


The Boy With The Purple Eyes

by I_Regret_Nothing_666



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Black paladin Shiro, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Green Paladin Pidge, Human lotor, Hurt Keith (Voltron), I REGRET NOTHING, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I’m not even sorry, KEEF HAS A PONYTAIL, Keith And Allura Are Siblings, King Alfor is their father, Lotor isn’t a Paladin so he just kinda hangs around on the ship, M/M, No Sex, No Smut, Protective Allura, Protective Lance (Voltron), Protective Siblings, YAAAASSSSS - Freeform, Yellow Paladin Hunk, because they know in my version that shes a girl, blue paladin lance, female pronouns for pidge even before they knew she was a girl, hes also my son, hes not evil, red paladin keith, sometimes he goes out on missions in a single pod but Keith is the main reason why he’s still there, they are the prince and princess of Altea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-04-03 21:16:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14004930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Regret_Nothing_666/pseuds/I_Regret_Nothing_666
Summary: With a faint hiss, the cryogenic pod opened. Out fell a girl, calling for her father. If Lance hadn’t had been there to catch her, she would’ve fallen flat on her tanned face. Her eyes were the deepest blue, she had strange pink markings under each of them, her long hair the colour of snow, which some of was pulled into a loose bun at the back of her head. Her long, non-human ears stuck out either side of her head, both with identical purple gems hanging from them. Her dress was expertly made, with fine blue, pink, gold and white silks, fit for a princess.She was the most beautiful thing Lance had ever seen, that was until he saw the boy.Or;Keith and Allura are the Prince and Princess of Altea and have been asleep for 10,000 years. Until five humans, brought there by the Blue Lion, open their cryogenic pods.I based my Altean Keith off of the fantastic fan art drawn by Rnoonjelly, if you would like to go an check it out!!https://pm1.narvii.com/6476/8ebcc755b4d4295168072cf806c9bf2fbcbc95d1_hq.jpg





	1. Chapter 1

_Simulation failed._

Lance cursed under his breath, he knew Iverson was going to tear him a new one, and probably in front of the whole Garrison. It wouldn’t surprise him, but it was okay. It’s not like it would be the first time, or the last. He helped Pidge up, who muttered under her breath;

“Nice work, Tailor.” before turning to Hunk, who had just puked in the main gear box. 

“You good, Buddy?” He asked tentatively. Hunk turned to look at him, opened his mouth to reply, but immediately had to turn and throw back up. The door flew open.

“Roll out, Donkeys!” Iverson shouted. 

Lance sighed as he slumped onto his bed. He was right. Iverson could be quite cruel at times. It was on nights like this that he really missed home, all his family and friends. Not that he didn’t have friends here, because he had Hunk and Pidge, but it wasn’t the same.

He got up and changed into his normal and most comfortable clothes, after remembering that he and Hunk were going to sneak out later, after lights out.

But even that couldn’t lift his spirits. Especially after Iverson had reminded him or Lotor. Lotor was supposedly the best pilot of his generation, but he had a discipline problem and had flunked out. But that was the only reason Lance had gotten into the fighter pilot program, he wasn’t gifted with technology like Pidge, and he had no idea where to start with engineering, unlike Hunk.

Lance, once again, felt useless.

He huffed again, and told himself to stop being so pathetic. He was just being stupid. Nobody cared anyway. He heard the call for lights out in ten, and that was the time that he had planned to meet up with Hunk. He left his room, finding Hunk where Hunk always was; raiding the Galaxy Garrison’s kitchen. 

“Come on, Hunk.” Hunk startled and whipped around to find the owner of the voice. “It’s me, you dumbass. We have to wait until five minutes to lights out before we can head to the roof. Stop _eating_ that Hunk!” Five minutes later, they were hiding behind a wall, trying their hardest to avoid Iverson. The other Cadets didn’t bother them; Lance and Hunk were too weird for anyone to really care about them. 

They had almost made it to Pidge’s room, when they heard it open with a soft hiss. She tumbled out with a bag, heading up to the roof, without noticing that Lance and Hunk were stood there. 

“Where is  _she_ going?!” They followed her up to the roof, where they watched her set a load of gadgets up. She set a pair of headphones over her ears, before they decided to ask her what the fuck she was doing. 

 Lance leant forwards and pulled on one of the round thingies on Pidge's headphones. 

“You come up here to rock out?” She gasped and whipped around.

“Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars.” Lance gestured to all the gadgets surrounding her.

“Where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech.” She looked up at him, a massive smirk on her face.

“I built it.” Hunk reached out a hand to touch some of Pidge's equipment,

“You built _all_ of this?” She slapped his hand away.

“Stop it. With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.” Lance's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“That right? All the way to Kerberos?” Her face fell slightly. “You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?” She huffed and looked back at Lance, before with lightning speed she whipped around and threatened Hunk again.

“Second warning, Hunk!” Lance huffed out,

“Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets.” He said persuasively, eyeing Pidge, who just glared slightly back.

“Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.” She glowered at Hunk. “Stop touching my equipment! So, I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”

Hunk sat up abruptly.

“Whoa, what? Aliens?”

“Okay, so, you're insane. Got it.”

“I'm serious! They keep repeating one word: Voltron. And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have _ever_ heard it.” Lance raised an eyebrow at Pidge.

“How crazy?” Suddenly, Iverson's voice echoed through the Garrison, as he shouted over the PA.

“Attention, students. This is _not_ a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat, all students are to remain in barracks until further notice!” Hunk looked around in a panic.

“What's going on? Is that a _meteor?!_ ” He pointed up at the sky, where a massive fireball had appeared. It was slowly getting closer, which meant that it was heading towards them at a great speed. “A very, very big meteor?!” Pidge frowned up at the sky, before she pulled out a pair of night vision goggles.

“It's a ship!” She said in surprise. Lance grabbed the binoculars off her, though she still held on.

“Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's _not_ one of ours!” Pidge smiled maniacally.

“No. It's one of _theirs_.” Hunk's panic was growing by the second.

“So, wait. There really are aliens out there?!” The ship hurtled past them and crashed into one of the mountains a little ways away from the Garrison itself. They heard the sounds of engines being started up, and they watched as three of the Garrison's rovers sped off towards the crash sight. Pidge's eye lit up.

“We've gotta see that ship!” Lance ran after her, shouting over his shoulder,

“Come on, Hunk!”

What happened next flew past Lance in a blur. First, he Hunk and Pidge figured out who was in the spaceship. It was one of the missing commanders off of the Kerberos Mission. Takashi Shirogane, or just Shiro, had escaped from a bunch of purple cat aliens. Then, Lotor came back out of the blue, to rescue Shiro, but of course it was Lance who actually rescued him. Then, Lotor flew them off a cliff on his hover bike. Then, Lotor had explained what he had been doing for the past seven months. In the dessert. Then, they were all in a cave that had weird lion marking engraved into the walls. Then, said markings started to glow bright blue, and they all fell through a hole in the floor onto a tiny waterfall, then they landed in a massive pond-like thing. They then saw a massive Blue Lion that Lance claimed for his own after it spoke to him. They then figured out what the mighty Voltron was, and that this Lion was only one piece of it. Then, they flew the Lion into space, where the purple aliens attacked them, _and then_ a colourful wormhole appeared and Lance decided he would rather fly through this wormhole then be obliterated by the purple cat people.

The Blue Lion emerged in front of a planet that looked a little like Earth, but Lance could tell that it most certainly wasn't.

“I think it's going home...” Lance murmured as the Lion purred in the back of his mind. 

They landed on the planet, in front of a majestic castle. They all got out of the Blue Lion and were cautiously making their way to the gigantic castle doors, when suddenly, the Blue Lion reared up and roared extremely loudly. The castle’s massive doors opened with a click and a groan, and the party that consisted of Lance, Hunk, Shiro, Pidge and Lotor walked inside.

“Hello?” Hunk's voice echoed loudly through the seemingly empty entrance hall. They saw a flight of stairs, at the far end of the hall.

“From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.” Pidge remarked, before an AI's monotone voice echoed louder than Hunk's did.

“Hold for identity scan.” As a blue light encased them, Shiro looked up at the source and shouted,

“Why are we here? What do you want from us?” A chorus of 'Whoa' spread through the group, when all of a sudden multiple blue lamps lit up, one by one, slowly lighting the five young explorer's way. Pidge's eyes followed the stream of lights that lead down a long hallway.

“I guess we're going that way...” She forged ahead in front of everyone, followed closely by Shiro and Lotor, then Lance and Hunk. The continued to walk down the stairs until they had made it to a door, which automatically opened. They stepped through into a room, which had circles in the floor, around a control panel, like things had sunken through the floor, almost like a trapdoor. The room was circular, and it had pillars with dim blue lights buried within them. Everyone walked inside, their eyes taking in everything, all except for Pidge's, whose golden eyes immediately found the control panel in the middle of the room. 

“Where are we?” Lance asked more to himself than anyone else. Pidge was already running her hand over the panel.

“It's... Some kind of control room.” Suddenly, two of the circles on the floor opened, and from them rose to human-sized pods. The glass was tainted with blue, but there was a shadow of a body inside each one. Hunk stared in their direction with horror.

“Are these guys... Dead?” Suddenly and with a faint hiss, one of the cryogenic pods opened. Out fell a girl, calling for her father. If Lance hadn’t had been there to catch her, she would’ve fallen flat on her tanned face. Her eyes were the deepest blue, she had strange pink markings under each of them, her long hair the colour of snow, which some of was pulled into a loose bun at the back of her head. Her long, non-human ears stuck out either side of her head, both with identical purple gems hanging from them. Her dress was expertly made, with fine blue, pink, gold and white silks, fit for a princess.  
She was the most beautiful thing Lance had ever seen, that was, until he saw the boy.

She looked up at Lance earnestly through her blue eyes.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Lance smirked down at her.

“I'm Lance. And you're right here in my arms.” God, she was beautiful. But, she also had grabbed Lance by the ear and had him on the floor in less than a second.

“Who are you?! Where are King Alfor and Prince Keith?! What are you doing in my castle?!” Lance was able to get up as all the power from the castle was drained by something. The second pod had opened. Out fell the most exquisite creature Lance had ever seen. The boy fell, and Lotor lunged to catch him, but as soon as he put his hands on the boy there was a massive surge of violet power, and Lotor let go with a hiss. The sickening smell of burning flesh floated in the air. That's where all the power had gone. This boy had absorbed it, and then, even though he was unconscious, had used it to almost explode Lotor's hands off. This boy was dangerous as fuck. The girl ran to the boy and tried to shake him awake, but she too, was shot with the violet power surge radiating off the boy's body, but she didn't give up, even though that would've put this girl in agony.

 “Keith! You have to wake up! You have to stop!” Without warning, all of the power returned to the castle, and the boy stirred. Now that Lance could see him properly, he didn't think his heart was ever going to beat properly again. The boy had raven-black hair, which was pulled back into a small ponytail, but the choppy fringe was hanging out. He, like the girl, had markings under his eyes, but his were deep violet. But this boy had more markings beyond that of his face. Because his sleeves only stopped just past his elbow, the blue and violet swirls were extremely visible. They started as a deep blue, that slowly faded into violet, and Lance was sure that if the boy rolled his sleeves up further, the markings would fade into a light turquoise. They danced along his arms and left an ombre pattern around both of his wrists, like bracelets that had been tattooed on. His long, pale ears had many black piercings in them. His black tank top was covered by a blue tailcoat which was pulled tight by a golden elastic belt that showed off this boys impeccable body. He wore ripped white skinny jeans and light blue lace up boots that stopped halfway up his calf.

His long, dark eyelashes fluttered, and when his eyes opened Lance felt all the air leave his chest. The boy's eyes were a deeper violet than his markings, but they also had visible specks of cyan flecked around randomly. Lance couldn't look away. He looked slightly younger than Lance, but his eyes were worn, like he had seen too much death and destruction before he should have. It broke Lance's heart.

“'Llura? 'Llura, where are we? Who are they? And what is that smell? It smells like burning flesh?! Oh, Allura? What did I do?!” 'Allura' quickly forgot about her burning hands and hugged the boy ferociously, and Lance was ashamed to say that he felt a pang of jealousy towards the girl, until he heard,

“Oh my, baby brother. I do not know. I do not know where our father is, Keith. What shall we do? We need Voltron. Where is Zarkon and his attacking fleets?” Keith looked up, directly at Lance, who felt his face burn beyond belief.

“How are you here? Why are you here? You are from Earth.” Lance swallowed thickly, trying to remember how to speak.

“Uh... We, uh... There was this... Blue Lion? And it kinda... I don't know,” He rubbed the back of his neck, because both of the siblings were staring at him intently now. His mind had gone completely blank, “I got in there and I just flew it... And it put ideas into my head about where I needed to go, especially when those purple dudes attacked us.” Keith was still staring at Lance intently, and Lance thought his lungs were going to collapse.

“But... What happened to the Blue Paladin? And where are the other Paladins? Allura, where is our father?” Lance finally exhaled as the siblings eyes locked onto each other's again. Holy mother of Jesus they were gorgeous. Allura helped Keith to his feet, and Lance realised that this boy was shorter than him. Allura both looked back at him, just as Lance started to imagine some pretty inappropriate things about the Prince. She growled at him, and realising what the Prince and Princess could do, Lance blushed fiercely. _That_ could and would never happen again. Great, so the stunning siblings were mind readers. Just great.

Keith started to stagger towards the control panel in the middle of the room, when his legs suddenly gave out on him. Lotor caught him. Big mistake. The Prince screamed something like,

“Don’t touch me!”, and he let loose a massive wave of the violet electricity, stolen from the castle again. This time, no one was lucky and everyone was hit with the blast. For a couple of seconds, Lance was frozen on the spot, and he felt only numb. Then, the pain hit him like a train. He fell. He was shaking, the agony pulsing through him. Then he felt a pair of hands grab the sides of his face. He managed to wrench his eyes open and find Keith staring down at him, face full of concern. Suddenly, Keith's vibrant eyes shone a pure white, then all of the electricity was pulled out of his body. Keith had absorbed his pain. Lance sat up and crawled to the writhing Prince and cradled him in his lap, the Prince then automatically latched onto Lance’s shirt. The rest of the group was still convulsing and writhing. This lasted for a good few minutes until the spasms subsided. Allura crawled over to Shiro, Hunk and Pidge to check on them, while Lotor pulled himself towards Lance and Keith, who was still gripping onto Lance’s shirt. The ends of Keith’s ponytail had gone a little frizzy, which made him look extremely hot. Lance wouldn’t make eye contact with either sibling while he had thoughts like these, but apparently Lotor hadn’t figured it out yet.

By the look of pure disgust Allura was giving him, Lotor had also thinking about the Prince. Keith looked at Lotor, a mad blush still staining his cheeks. Oh, he was so cute. _(STOP IT, BRAIN!)_

“Um... Sorry, Lotor. No. I would _not_ like to join you in those particular activities.” Lotor rubbed the back of his neck, as best he could with his burnt hands, as he was also blushing.

“I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect, it's just...” Allura's eyes narrowed in anger.

“It's just _what,_ boy?!” Lotor looked at the Princess in nothing but pure fear.

“N-nothing, your majesty.” She seemed satisfied by that answer. Lance stood, and helped Keith to his feet, the Alien’s hands fit perfectly in his own. Lance quickly locked all thoughts away when Keith stared straight into his eyes, when suddenly Keith’s voice echoed in his head. 

“I’m beyond sorry for that. You must not tell Allura about what I did, okay?” He was looking so earnest that Lance could only nod and think one word. 

“Promise.” Keith smiled, and Lance had a hard time keeping his thoughts under control. Keith turned to the rest of the group, who still looked to be in pain, like a dull ache.

“I'm, um, really, truly sorry for that. Um... Yeah.” Aided by Allura, Keith made it to the control panel. Allura glanced at everyone in turn.

“I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. And this is my brother, Prince Keith. We have to find out where we are, and how long we've been asleep.” Keith placed his hands on either side of the panel and they lit up with strange symbols that Lance didn't understand. Pidge's eyes lit up with wonder.

“Okay, that's how that works.” Keith almost collapsed again.

“It can't be.” Allura's eyes widened.

“What is it?” Keith turned to look at her.

“We've been asleep for 10,000 years. Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Allura, our father is gone... Our entire civilisation... Zarkon.” Keith spat, a murderous look on his face. Shiro gasped, his face lighting up with something recognition.

“Zarkon?” Keith looked straight at him, still glaring. The temperature around him dropped about 100 degrees. Everyone except Lance and Allura was effected. After noticing this Lance looked up to find the Prince's face tinted with red. 

“He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people.” Shiro nodded, eyes misty as if having a painful flashback.

“I remember now... I was his prisoner.” Allura's blue eyes widened in shock.

“He's still alive? Impossible!” Shiro stared earnestly at the Princess.

“I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron.” Her eyes darkened.

“He is searching for it because it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does.”


	2. The Screams In The Mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarkon is dead, and the Paladins of Voltron are just settling down for life in space. When something seems wrong with Keith.

Allura delivered the final blow. It was justice for her father, Lance supposed. Lance recalled the recent events of his life; Allura had told them all about the Paladins of Voltron. Lance was the Blue Paladin. Pidge was the Green Paladin. Hunk was the Yellow Paladin. Keith was the Red Paladin. And Shiro was the Black Paladin. Lotor would take his attack pod out on missions and provide cover fire. The team bonded in the meantime, learning more about each other. All except Keith. He spent all his time with the Princess, and only participated in bonding exercises if he had to. Keith was very introverted. Lance was dying to learn more about the beautiful Prince of Altea, what his planet had looked like, what his mother was like, when his birthday was, all things like that. And apparently, so did Lotor. Every time he saw the Prince, he would give his best smile and compliment him casually. Keith was quite a bashful little muffin, and would blush and thank Lotor, but never take it further than that. It was clear that Keith was not interested, but Lotor couldn’t seem to take a hint. They had found Zarkon by using a little trick Allura had come up with; Zarkon used to be the Black Paladin, so if they could strengthen Shiro’s bond with Black, Black would allow Shiro to track Zarkon, without letting him know. Suddenly, they could scan the entire universe and find the ugliest, nastiest, purplest cat alien there was, and create a plan to take the King of the Galra down. And that’s exactly what they’d just done. Lance felt relief wash through him, no more feeling like someone was constantly staring over his shoulder, no more panic as the alarms sound. Lance let a massive grin spread across his face as all the Paladins, Allura and Lotor stood in the throne room, Zarkon’s body lying motionless at their feet. Hunk was laughing and hugging Pidge’s small body, Shiro was embracing the Princess. Keith had pushed past Lotor and was making his way towards Lance, who spread his arms and embraced the smaller boy. Sometimes, when Lance would wander the Castle at night, he would bump into Keith, who never slept. They would talk about everything and nothing all at once, or they would sit in a comfortable silence. They would share glances across the room when Allura was briefing missions, behind her back. They were friends. Of course, Lance had a massive crush on the Prince, but God forbid he would never let that mess with his friendship. His special relationship with Keith meant a lot to him, and he knew he was the closest Paladin to Keith. The Prince fit quite nicely in Lance’s arms, and he was squeezing the Blue Paladin tight. 

“We did it. We won.” Lance could feel Keith’s little body vibrating with every syllable. 

“Damn right we did.” Lance laughed. Keith let go, and ran to hug his sobbing sister. Lotor approached Lance, a sad look on his face. 

“What is it?” Lance asked cheerfully. Lotor’s eyes followed Keith. 

“I really like him, and he basically acts if I don’t exist.” Lance felt slightly uncomfortable, 

“That’s... That’s not true...” Lotor smiled up at Lance sadly. 

“I know it is, and I also know you like him too. It’s okay, you’re not at all obvious. As far as I know, no one else knows. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Lance didn’t really know how to respond to that. He wasn’t wrong, but he felt awkward because he had a better chance than Lotor ever had. 

“Thank you... And, Lotor? I’m sorry.” Lotor smiled again. 

“It’s okay.” And with that, Lotor walked off to congratulate the rest of the team. 

Lance sat up in his bed that night. He knew he couldn’t go home, they would ask too many questions. He missed his family, especially his two brothers and his big sister. When he came out as bisexual, all of his family loved and accepted him, but it was his siblings that tried to set him up with all the cute boys as well as girls. He missed them so, so much. He remembered his two best friends he left behind when he went to the Garrison. He recalled the first time he met them both.

_Lance was the new kid at school. Personal things and moving, things like that, meant that Lance started school in third grade, and was one of the youngest in his year, at only eight years old. His parents had taught him everything else the kids his age knew, plus more, so he wasn't really at a disadvantage there. But he was at a disadvantage when it came to socialising. He didn't have any friends, and all his siblings were older and "too cool" to be seen with their little, lonely brother, but he was confident that he would make lots of friends and soon, his mama said so. He stepped into his first class ever. The teacher stepped closer to him and coaxed him out in front of the class._

_“Hello everybody, we have a new student! Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?” Lance held his head high and gave his best smile._

_“My name is Lance McClain, and I'm eight years old, and I'm from Cuba.” There was a chorus of 'Hello'  and 'Hi' from all the wide-eyed kids on the floor. One of the little girls made space for him to sit by her on the carpet in front of the teacher. She had shoulder length ginger hair that was bunched and curly. Her big, gunmetal blue eyes were crinkled with happiness. She was wearing a large hoodie that had obviously been stolen from a much older sibling. It was patched a frayed, and it hung half-way down her knee-length denim shorts. She stuck out one of her hands, her nails were bitten and bloody._

_“My name is Billie, nice to meet you Lance.” Lance smiled at the girl._

_“A pleasure.”_ He smiled at the memory. Billie never changed. She stole more overly-large hoodies, and her hair remained choppy and beautiful ginger. She got slightly more antisocial as she grew older, but she loved their other best friend like a brother, except they were all the same age.

_Billie and Lance were hanging in the park, just talking about their new history project that they were working on together (being twelve years old, homework was one of the most important things in their lives), when they heard a scream rip through the night. They jumped off the climbing frame and ran towards the sound. It came from a dark alley, which neither of them hesitated to run down. At the end was a girl and a boy. The boy was clutching his face, and the girl was fretting over him._

_“Pip? Pip, are you okay?”_

_“What happened?” Lance called to the obvious twins, who were both very attractive. Pip, the boy on the floor, and his sister both had startling green eyes and darker than black hair._

_“We just got mugged!” The girl cried, but the boy stood up, his rage almost visable._

_“I swear to fucking God,” He growled, “If I ever see that guy again, he’s dead.” He turned to Lance. And stuck out his light olive skinned hand. He looked like Tyler Mathew Young with vibrant green eyes, which was slightly ironic, seeing as though one of Lance’s favourite shows ever was ‘Eyewitness’._

_“I’m Philip, but my friends call me Pip, and this is my sister, Winter.” Lance shook it, smiling at the boy and girl._

_“I’m Lance, and this is Billie. Nice to meet you!”_

Jesus, he missed them. Pip and Billie had been his _world_ , other than his family, and they were part of it. Lance had a special bond with Pip, though. Winter had died in a tragic accident when the twins had just about turned fourteen. She had been at the beach with her own friends, and had been carried too far away from the shore by a riptide. It had taken them five days to find her body. Pip was devastated. Lance and him had grown extremely close, like, _really_ close. Lance could feel himself slowly falling in love with his best friend, and was lucky enough to know that Pip felt the same way. Billie loved it, and she loved them, no matter what. Lance recalled the way he had cried to Pip first about his parents sending him away to the Galaxy Garrison, and how Pip has cried too. That’s when they kissed for the first time, and Lance had told Pip he loved him. Pip had said it back. Billie was just as devastated, just they didn’t kiss and proclaim their undying love for each other. Oh, he missed them so, so much.

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and slipped out from between the sheets, his bare feet padding on the cold floor. His door opened with a quiet swoosh and he stepped out. He knew he would run into Keith at some point tonight, he always did, as Keith was, like, the insomniac of insomniacs. Usually Keith would sit in the control room and just stare into space, probably thinking about home. Just like Lance. They would sit and chat for hours. But tonight, Keith wasn’t there, and he wasn’t in his room either. Lance wandered past the airlock, and he heard a muffled sound from the floor above him, probably from the Training Room. Lance dragged his tired body to the elevator and pushed the button for the floor above him. As soon as he stepped out of the escalator he pulled his jacket tighter around his body, feeling the chill. It was much colder up there than it was supposed to be, Lance could see his breath. He walked a little faster now, since his feet were starting to freeze. He made it to the Training Room and looked inside. Keith was in there. With a level twelve training bot. Which was getting its robotic ass kicked. 

Keith was wearing a black training tank top, which showed off his usually purple and blue ombre markings. But something was wrong. Keith wasn’t facing Lance, but the patterns in Keith’s skin had gone from blue and purple to jet black and the colour of blood. As Keith brutally destroyed the bot, a voice that did not belong to Keith commanded the level thirteen bot to challenge him. Then it spoke directly to him.

“ _You know, Princey, they’re all going to die if you do not come with me._ ” Keith didn’t say anything, Lance doubted he actually could, seeing as though he was fighting a level thirteen bot. “ _Once I get inside that pretty little head of yours, I’ll kill those who mean the most to you one by one, and they’ll all believe it was you. Then, I’ll torture you. And torture you. But I won’t let you die, I need you for a bit. You know, a perception of me has been on a TV show on Earth. I believe it’s called Supernatural... Don’t judge it by its name. I am Apollyon, sometimes known as Abbadon, the leader of the Abyss. When the fifth trumpet is blown, the Abyss will open and my Demonic Locusts will demolish your solar systems and universes. You can’t kill me. I’m only telling you this because you won’t remember this in the morning. Neither will your friend hiding behind the door_.” Lance almost screamed. “ _Keith, get ready for some really good nights of sleep, and even if you manage to stay awake, I’ll still get you. You can’t wake up._ ” 

Lance woke up the next day wondering how he got such a good night of sleep. Something was wrong though, he could feel it. But trying to remember a dream is like trying to keep water in cupped hands. Keith smiled at him that morning, though.  Everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! Any and all feedback is appreciated greatly! X


	3. The Fifth Trumpet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demon is getting inside everyone’s head, to determine who is the most broken of the lot. The team is forced to relive their worst memories.

_Pip jumped out of his rusted blue truck, running to Lance’s front door, tears streaming down his pale-olive face. It had all happened so fast. They had all gone to the beach. Four days it had taken. But she was home now, even though that didn't make it any better or any less painful. Winter was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Ever. He stumbled over to Lance's front door and rapped on the door. He wanted Lance. He needed Lance. The door opened, but it was Lance's mother. _

_"Pip? I heard about- oh, mi pobre chico, I am so sorry, come in. Lance! It's Pip!" Pip could hear footsteps tearing down the stairs, and suddenly he was wrapped tightly in someone else's arms. This person smelled of the ocean. It was his favourite and least favourite smell of all. Because it meant that it was Lance was holding him, and he really needed Lance to hold him right then. But it was also the thing that tore Winter away so brutally, so Pip had to remind himself that he was in Lance's arms. He was safe there. Nothing could get him._

_"Oh Dios mío, Pip. I am so, so sorry. I can't even begin to understand what you're going through." Lance whispered in his ear. Pip couldn't answer. He could only stare straight ahead, tears still leaking from his big glossy eyes, and try to pull Lance closer, which wasn't physically possible, but he tried anyway. Lance's mother shooed his younger siblings away from the two teenagers. Pip's knees gave out, but Lance caught him before he hit the floor. "Come on, Pip." He half carried Pip up the stairs to his bedroom, Pip’s small body racking with sobs. Pip quickly kicked off his black Converse, still staring straight ahead at nothing. Lance quickly sat him down on his bed, kicking off his own shoes. Lance delved next to him, pulling him down gently, so they were facing each other. Lance gazed into Pip's blank, teary green eyes, while Pip gazed into Lance's sad, ocean blue ones. Then, the facade broke, and Pip began to sob. He began to scream into Lance's chest. Lance pulled him closer, holding him tight and whispering things in Spanish just loud enough that Pip could hear him. They must have been there for hours, Pip’s voice was gone and his throat torn from all the screaming by the time he was done. Lance placed a small kiss on Pip’s forehead, wiping at the still falling tears. Pip rolled over, and being quite a bit smaller than Lance, they fit together nicely. Lance pulled Pip gently into a spooning position, still muttering things into his ear in Spanish._

_"Cuídate. Nos vemos en el otro lado?" It meant, 'Take care, see you on the other side?' It was a phrase that all of the McClain's used. Sometimes a question, sometimes a promise. Sometimes when his brother Luis went to the shops his mom would call it out to his retreating back, sometimes Lance would whisper it to his sister Veronica when she left when the holidays ended and she had to go back to her house in London. It was small, and sometimes used out of context, but it was routine. After a while, Pip’s body stopped shaking. His tears stopped falling. He was finally asleep._

Lance woke with a start, tears streaming down his own face. That was one of the worst days of his life. He had never seen Pip so broken, and there was literally nothing he could do or say to make that better. He couldn’t bring Winter back. He could only hold the smaller boy. He wiped his eyes, and changed into his only set of clothes, and opened his door with a swoosh, and almost ran straight into Allura, who had apparently been trying to work up the courage to knock on Lance's door for a while now.

"Princess?" She looked worried. She pushed a finger to her lips, then motioned Lance back into his room, almost as if she thought something was watching them. The door shut swiftly behind them.

"Lance?" She whispered, tears almost spilling from her eyes, "Is that really you?" Lance frowned at her.

"Um... As far as I know...? What's wrong Allura? Are you okay?" She looked up at him earnestly.

"I don't know... I keep waking up. I went everywhere on this ship, and you're the only person I've recognised so far! I keep seeing Marmora and Talos... But I don’t think they’re alive anymore...” Lance was sure he could literally hear the Princess’ heart shatter. He made a mental not to ask about this ‘Mamora’ and ‘Talos’. “I can't wake up Lance!" The last part stirred something in Lance's head, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but that wasn't important. He cast his mind back to life on Earth, and one of his 'guilty pleasure' shows: _Teen Wolf_. He had no idea if their facts were straight, but it was the only thing he had.

"Fingers. In dreams, you have extra fingers." She lurched forwards and snatched Lance's hand, counting slowly.

" _One. Two. Three. Four. Five_."

"See, you're awake now, okay? You probably was just having a nightmare, but you're okay now." But Allura shook her head.

"No. I know nightmares, and that wasn't it. No, this was something else. Something powerful. Something demanding to be heard. Something-" A guttural howl echoed through the ship. Shiro was screaming. Allura and Lance sprinted down the castle hallway towards Shiro’s room, which opened with a whoosh. Shiro was lying in his bed, obviously still asleep, but he was whispering and crying. 

“Please, we mean you no harm! We’re only scientists from the peaceful planet of Earth!” He kept repeating it over and over. Allura stepped closer to him and gently shook him awake. He sat bolt upright with a yelp, and immediately latched onto Allura. She soothed him quietly. 

“Please... Please don’t let him take me again...” His voice shot through Allura and Lance like a bullet. 

“I promise. I promise I won’t let him.” Shiro started to relax, and he slowly started to leak back into consciousness.

“W’as goin’ on? ‘Lurra? Lance?” He ripped the blanket off quickly; after noticing the looks on the two blue eyed people in front of him’s faces. “What’s wrong?!” Lance shook his head. 

“There’s no time. We need to prioritise right now; who on this ship has been through a lot of trauma? Whose had the worst lives? We need to get to them first and wake them up. We all seem to be reliving our worst memories. Hunk’s life has been pretty okay, other than his parents splitting up. Pidge’s brother and father were both taken, then she had to leave her mom, who probably thinks that everyone she loved is dead. Lotor was abandoned as a child and literally lived in the desert. He was most likely abused. I say we hit Pidge first, then Lotor, and Hunk last.” Lance thought that might be a reasonable plan, but Allura was shaking her head so vigorously Lance was surprised that it didn’t fall off her shoulders. 

“No! Shiro, you get to Pidge. Lance, I need you with me. We have to get to Keith.” Lance frowned. 

“Why? Did something happen to him? Can he wait?” Allura turned to Lance, burning dread lighting up her vibrant eyes. 

“Yes, something terrible happened to Keith. But you don’t understand. He’s so powerful, that if he remembers... He will tear the Castle of Lions apart. And we won’t be able to stop him.” Lance’s mouth hung open for a short second, before he snapped it shut, eyes blazing with determination. 

“Lead the way.” The two teenagers hurried down the corridors, until the lights powered down. They knew it was too late. But still they ran. They skidded to a halt outside Keith's door. No power; the door did not just _whoosh_ open. Lance pressed his ear up against the door, and he could hear Keith muttering and whimpering in his sleep.

"We have to get in there before he kills us all!" Then, gradually, Keith started to scream. The throat-tearing, heart-breaking, full of raw emotion, harrowing kind of screams.

 _"Marmora, no! Please! Please, you can't hurt them! Talos?! Talos! Marmora?"_ Lance turned to Allura.

"He's screaming about Talos? And Marmora?" Allura's face fell in a great sadness and remorse, and her eyes welled up with tears. Lance was really curious about what had happened to Marmora and Talos, whoever they were, and why it was hurting Keith into causing so much damage.

"Of course. It doesn't surprise me. They were his everything. We have to get in there! Otherwise he's going to disintegrate the ship and everyone on it." _This was serious,_ thought Lance. _Marmora and Talos must've meant a hell of a lot to the Prince and Princess. So much so that it was killing Keith._ But, the most important thing at that moment in time was getting into that room and waking Keith up. He pulled out his Bayard and it morphed into his Altean sword, and he hacked a human sized hole into the door, allowing him and the princess to crawl through. Keith was lying on his bed, dreaming with his eyes wide open, but his eyes were no longer the blue-y purple. They were fully jet black. His back was arching off his bed, and he was writhing and jerking. He was still screaming.  He wore shorts and a three-quarter-length sleeves, which both showed off his beautiful Altean markings that Allura seemed to lack. But they were different somehow. _Probably because they were black faded into the colour of blood,_ Lance thought sarcastically.

"How are we supposed to wake him up?! If we touch him, he'll blow our hands off!" Allura looked thoughtful for a moment.

"He hugged you, didn't he? When I killed Zarkon?" Lance's brow furrowed.

"Yeah, so?" Allura smiled fondly at her seizing brother.

"He's only ever hugged three times before in his life. Talos, Marmora, and myself. Remember what happened when Lotor caught him when he woke up? But he willingly touched you. You have a special bond with my brother. Maybe we can coax him out of this together. We have to talk to him, wake him up, convince him that... _This_ isn't happening again. Marmora and Talos suffer no longer." She said, unable to hide the pain in her voice. Lance turned to Keith’s agonised body. 

“Well,” He sighed, “Here goes nothing.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter, please leave your thoughts in the comments, any and all feedback is appreciated!!! X


	4. The Walls Have Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith isn’t sleeping. At all. Lance is starting to get worried. Allura starts to notice it too. The demon is inside someone on the ship, biding its time, waiting for the perfect moment to infect Keith’s sleep deprived mind. Lance's speech to Keith (using Google Translate, please don’t hurt me I know it’s not at all acurate) translates to “God, Keith. I do not know ... I do not know what happened to you. All I know is that it is destroying you, and if you can not stop yourself, you will destroy us all. Then, you need to destroy the influence that this thing has on you! Because we need you. I need you.” And, “You remind me of him, you know. You are beautiful people. However, his eyes were green. You are special in your way. I love you both differently, but the two are the same, if that makes sense to you. Please come back to us. Allura needs you. Red needs you. We all do.”  
> And “Oalisa hustas, Keith! Balmarpa estos gat kilolib jit Marmora di Talos, saloberix onoré!” Means “Wake up, Keith! There is still hope for Marmora and Talos, believe me!”  
> “Poplise kilolib, Keith” means “Have hope, Keith.”

Lance knelt by Keith’s bed. He knew he couldn’t get too close; power was just rolling off of Keith’s pale, writhing body in waves, singeing Lance’s eyebrows and forcing his hair to stand on end. Allura sunk down next to him, her face was contorted in pain for her brother. 

“Dios, Keith. No sé... No sé qué te pasó. Todo lo que sé es que esta cosa te está destruyendo, y si no puedes parar, nos destruirás a todos. ¡ así que tienes que destruir la influencia que esta cosa tiene sobre ti! Porque te necesitamos. Te necesito.” Keith twitched, eyes flashing back to his beautiful blue. Lance thought of Pip. 

“Me recuerdas a él, sabes. Eres gente hermosa. Sin embargo, sus ojos eran verdes. Eres especial en tu camino. Los amo a los dos de manera diferente, pero los dos son iguales, si eso tiene sentido para ustedes. Por favor regrese a nosotros. Allura te necesita. Red te necesita. Todos lo hacemos.” He turned to Allura, who was looking at him slightly strangely. Lance realised he had just rambled in Spanish, he did that sometimes without realising it. She looked at him as if he had just preformed an exorcism on her brother. He smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry..." She looked confused.

"Why are you sorry? That was beautiful, and I don't even know what you said..." He smiled bashfully.

"Thank you, it's just sometimes I go back to my first language, which is called Spanish."

"Y-you have m-more than one language...?" Keith's weak voice trailed off as he slipped back into unconsciousness. Lance whipped around to Keith, but saw his eyes fade back to black extremely quickly, and found that the power forcing its way out of his body increased and it knocked Lance and Allura off of their feet. Keith yelled out in agony and electricity spread out in deep purple tendrils, attacking everything they came into contact with. They blew out all of the emergency backup lights and power. Lance felt the Balmeran Crystal explode. They needed to wake Keith up, and do it quickly. Suddenly, Lance heard a voice that belonged to no one in that room, as Keith's body became eerily still and silent.  

"Keith! You have to run! Leave us, please!" It was the voice of a young male, and he sounded heartbroken, like he'd just watched his whole world burn.

"No, Marmora! I won't leave you, or Talos! We're a team, and we win together. Or we lose together. How do you think I'd feel if I just left you both here? And I was the only one left standing? The last one left? I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It would kill me." There was Keith's stubborn voice, which was hoarse and torn. It hitched on 'the last one left', as if he was crying. Lance and Allura both had tears streaming down their faces, and Lance felt like his soul was being cut out, but he didn't know why. Then he realised that he and Allura were both being forced to relive Keith's emotions and feelings.

"Keith, they need you to rule. We're nothing. There's no way I'm getting out of here in one piece, but you can go. Take Mora with you. Both of you go! I don't want you to see me go like this. I wanted to go down guns blazing, you know? With glory? Never imagined it would be a Druid, who snuck up behind me as well, just so that they could blow themselves up and took the quiznacking ceiling with them too. Then it just had to rip a hole in my stomach. That's just plain rude. I'm just saying." Lance assumed this must be Talos. He too, was a young man, both him and Marmora sounded to be the same age as Keith... Or Keith before his cryogenic freezing.

"Stop talking like that! We're getting out of he-" There was a loud explosion and Lance felt a sharp pain in the top of his head, where something had hit Keith and knocked him out. As Allura clutched her head, she cried out to Keith in a language he did not understand. 

“Oalisa hustas, Keith! Balmarpa estos gat kilolib jit Marmora di Talos, saloberix onoré!” With that, Keith’s violet eyes snapped open. 

“Y-you really think... think so?” Allura smiled at him kindly.

“Poplise kilolib, Keith.” He managed a small, weak smile back, now fully awake. 

“What... What happened?” Keith sat up and blinked in the darkness. “Did I have... have another episode?” Allura only nodded, “Then why aren’t the lights turning on? I’m awake now...?” Lance scratched the back of his head. 

“Ummm, well, about that...” He swallowed thickly, “You, uh, kind of... kind of _exploded_ the Castle’s Crystal...?” Keith’s eyes widened in surprise and guilt. 

“I’m so sorry Allura! That means we have no power, and something’s on the ship, and if we have no power then we can’t fly to the nearest Balmera and get another Cry-” Lance’s expression made Keith stop. 

“What... what did you just say?” Allura stuttered, shock and fear etched all over her beautiful face. Keith frowned. 

“I said that we have no power and we can’t fly to the nearest Balmera...?” Allura shook her head. 

“No. Before that. You-you said that there’s something on the ship.” Keith stared at her. 

“No, I didn’t...?” Allura looked like she was about to shit her pants. 

“Yes, you did, Keith.”

“Did I? I don’t remember saying that!” Lance and Allura shared a worried look. 

“You definitely said it, Keith. Keith... what’s on the ship?” Keith made full eye contact with Lance and could see the worry and anxiety clouding his mind. 

“I have no idea.” Just as Keith said that, Shiro, Hunk, Lotor and Pidge ran in. 

“Something exploded the Crystal, Princess!” Keith looked down guiltily, but raised his hand all the same. 

“That, uh, that was me. Sorry about that,” He said with a small, innocent smile. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Keith.” Lotor told him. Keith directed his smile to Lotor, but wouldn’t look him in the eyes, for he was scared of what he might see in the boy’s head. He was quite scared about what he saw last time, it was still giving him nightmares. None of which were quite as bad as the one he’d just had.

It was Marmora and Talos. It always had been Marmora and Talos. They were his teammates, Marmora was half Galra half human, Talos was a full Galra, but he thought and spoke like an Altean. Keith was the same as them, but different. Keith and Allura’s mother and father had been happily married for for four years, and as the kin and queen, they had accomplished much, including an alliance with the Galra. That’s when queen Fala had discovered the Galra Druids. She was fascinated by them, and had become one by the time that Keith and Allura were born.  Because Keith’s and Allura’s mom was a Druid, that’s where his powers came from. Allura never gained any such abilities, only the mind reading. Where as Keith could bend and generate that purple electricity, also he could absorb power from things like Balmeran Crystals, and use that instead of making his own which was very tiresome, he could read any mind, split cracks into the ground, and bend and generate thiré; which was like Earth fire, except the fact that it burned as hot as their sun, and instead it was a bright teal colour, which matched the markings all over Keith’s body. Speaking of which, they were not currently blue and purple, but rather black and red. That’d only happened once before, and Keith vowed to never let it happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter, any and all feedback is appreciated as always! You guys are literally the best and your comments literally make me cry in a good way so thank you so much again.


	5. Talos and Marmora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a flashback to Marmora, Talos and Keith, where you learn more about them, and what happened to them.

Lance wanted - needed - to know who Marmora and Talos were. They had left Keith and Allura  heartbroken, and Lance was pretty sure he hadn’t heard the whole story through Keith’s memories. So, after he made sure Keith was okay, and left the rest of the team with him, he pulled Allura aside.

"Who are Marmora and Talos? You mentioned them earlier... you said that you didn't know what had happened to them. What was possibly so bad that Keith tried to rip the ship apart?!" Allura had her head down, before she looked him straight in the eye.

"It's easier if I show you." She placed her cold fingers on either side of his head. Suddenly, his body jolted as images flowed into his head, like a dam bursting. 

_Allura, Keith and King Alfor were heading to Daibazaal to meet with with King Zarkon’s Galra envoy, made up of the most elite Galra pilots. The Altean’s already had the Red Paladin, Keith, they also had the Black Paladin, Zarkon, and the Green Paladin, the Olkari Trigel. So now they were looking for the Blue and Yellow Paladins._

_In many ways, the Blue and Red Paladins are very similar, so Keith would choose the possible candidates for her, then he would escort them to the Blue Lion. Then, hopefully, she would choose her Paladin. Then the excesses would go and meet the Yellow Lion. So, Keith followed his instincts and chose those who he felt, even though he had never even seen them in his life, he had a bond with, it was like a gentle pull in the back of his mind._

_This pull led him to choose three Galra pilots, whose names were Camilow, Talos and Marmora. He took the three plucky Galra to the Blue Lion, and turned to face them all._

_“To pilot the Blue Lion, you must have a kind heart, and never hesitate to do what is right, even if it means that you might get hurt yourself. You must be caring, and fearless. If you are chosen, you may feel like the most expendable member of the team, but you must know that you are important no matter what. You are unique and beautiful. We cannot form Voltron without you. Now, would the first candidate like to step forward before the Blue Lion.”_

_The extremely attractive Galra Marmora stepped forward and placed both of his hands on the blue particle barrier as he whispered some things to the motionless Lion, his fluffy purple ears pressed flat to his head. He didn’t look like a regular Galra though; he was much shorter, his skin was several shades lighter, and his eyes were two toned with yellow and turquoise slitted pupils, like a cat. His claws were sharper and so were his teeth, almost like fangs. Every Galra had a tail, almost like a rats, but Marmora's was longer, and at the end where the normal Galra tail hair would get darker, his tail fur was much longer and instead of the fur getting darker purple, it faded into an electric blue._

It reminded Lance of  an anime Billie had forced him to watch: Blue Exorcist. Marmora was beautiful, just like Rin Okumura. Lance used to have a major crush on the son of Satan, even if he wasn't real.

_His hair was scraped up into a messy bun, just like Keith’s, but despite that, his fluffy, cat-like ears were in the same place as an Alteans ears, just much higher on his head, so his hair grew around them, and he had pulled his hair in between his sensitive ears to get it into his messy bun. Keith suspected that if his ears had not been so large, they would’ve been completely covered by his hair. This boy was a half-born, or as the assholes called them, halflings. The boy rested his forehead on the blue glow, and almost fell on his chin when the barrier disappeared, and the poor boy almost shit himself when the Lion swallowed him up. The other boys looked up in awe, as the Blue Lion took her stance, threw back her head, and let out a mighty roar, her eyes now a vibrant yellow. Keith shouted up to the new Paladin._

_“Congratulations! Welcome to Team Voltron! We will leave you now, we will be in the Yellow Lion hangar, but take your time to bond with Blue, Marmora. You will receive your Bayard shortly.” They could hear whoops of joy coming from the cockpit, and Keith couldn’t help but give a small smile. So he had a new, attractive teammate. He led Camilow and Talos to the Yellow Lion, where he turned to face the remaining pilots._

_“To pilot the Yellow Lion, you must be gentle and fun-loving. You must be kind and caring to all those you meet, and you never judge a book by its cover. You are a good person who is friendly, and you would give your life saving the people you love. Good luck. Talos, step forward.” Talos, too, was a very short Galra, just a bit taller than Keith, unlike Marmora who was a good few inches shorter than him, but Talos was definitely a full Galra. His skin was a deep purple, and his eyes were fully that vibrant yellow. His claws were smaller and less sharp, and his ears were much lower on his head, and were much pointier and smaller. His hair was too short to put into a ponytail, but it was long._

_He, too, just walked up to the Yellow Lion and put his hands on the particle barrier._

_“Um... hi there, miss Yellow Lion.” Talos stuttered awkwardly, But almost immediately the barrier shattered and Yellow swallowed him up and roared, just as the Blue Lion had. Keith congratulated  the new pilot, then turned to the remaining Galra._

_“I’m ever so sorry. You would’ve made a great pilot, I can feel it.” Camilow bowed to the prince._

_“Thank you, prince Keith. It has been an honour.” Keith nodded as the Galra straightened out and walked back to his fellow envoy pilots who didn’t make it either._

_Keith hated his job. He hated watching crushing young peoples hopes and dreams... just kidding, he loved it. No, he's really kidding now... or was he? Who knows lol._

_King Alfor and his twin Allura approached him,_

_"Well done, son. You would've made an amazing negotiator or politician, you know." This took Keith aback, wait what? Keith was supposed to be the diplomat of Altea. And Allura was supposed to be married off  to some rich family to form an alliance._

_"What?!" Alfor and Allura looked slightly uncomfortable._

_"Yeah, about that... that's kind of my job now... and the Galra you met earlier?  He's to marry you. I'm so sorry we didn't tell you, Keith." It was too much for Keith, he stopped hearing at “marry”. Marry a rich half-born Galra? Not that he had anything against half-borns, but he was being forced to marry at the tender age of sixteen?! He didn’t think so._

_“You mean Marmora?! Does he know?!” His confusion was replaced by anger, and a white hot rage boiled inside him._

_“No, he doesn’t.” That only made Keith feel a little better. At least he wasn’t the last one to know. That’s when his anger spread from just himself, but for Marmora too. Why wouldn’t they tell him?! Keith could feel the thiré and the Druid electricity flowing down his arms and tingle through his fingers. He needed to calm down, or he was going to accidentally burn Daibazaal to the ground. He took a couple of deep breaths in as he spotted his older twin nervously glancing down at his twitching hands._

_“When.” He said simply. Alfors face lightened with slight relief, as if figuring out that Keith had decided to not disintegrate the Galra home-world._

_“At least one and a half deca-phoeb, my boy.” Keith was even more confused now._

_“Why is it so far away? That’s, like, nineteen entire Earth months.” Alfors face lit up with pride._

_”You’re so smart, Keith, never forget that. And to answer your question, I don’t know, I think it was to give you and Marmora time to get to know each other.” Keith couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he decided that nothing food would come from erasing Daibazaal from the Solar System._

_“I’m going to bring him over here, and you’re going to tell him exactly what’s going on. I refuse to do it. I won’t.” Keith growled at his family. He loved his father and his twin, but he yearned for Queen Fala, his mother. He knew she would’ve tried to stand up for him. She was the reason he had these powers in the first place, and she had taught him to control them. But she was sick, the doctors said that she will definitely get better, but she needed to rest, so she couldn’t come and meet the new Paladins._

_Quietly, he stalked back to the Blue Lion, and shouted out at Marmora, who was still bonding with his new Lion._

_“Marmora? Could you come down for a minute, don’t worry you’ve done nothing wrong, my father would just like to talk to you.” The Blue Lion’s head lowered and Marmora climbed out of the cockpit. He really was astoundingly attractive, his purple and blue tail swished behind him as he walked, his ears pricked up with interest._

_“My prince? Is everything okay?” Keith’s face fell a little, he hated the fact that Marmora was so clueless about what was going on._

_“Please follow me, my father has some very important news to share with you. And by the way, I don't know how you’re going to react, but if you don’t like it, then I’m so sorry. But my father is a stubborn man, and he’s not gonna change his mind.” Marmora’s ears flattened halfway, as if he was thinking very hard, and his blue and purple tail flicked agitatedly. Man, Keith wanted to touch it, but he knew if you were a half-born it was the most sensitive part of the body, if he touched it in the wrong place or too hard it could cause screaming agony, there were actual cases of half-borns dying from the pain, but if he touched it in the right place, it would cause pleasure beyond human comprehension; it was like if you were constantly stroking your dog, just ten times more, and it would leave the half-born defenceless because they wouldn’t be able to function properly. It would cause paralysis, as the half-born's body would go into shutdown mode. All Galra use their tails for balance, or sometimes to fight, and that will give them a great advantage, but also a great disadvantage, as it would leave the tail open for enemies to grab. Only the most skilled Galra fighter fought with their tails out, and considering the fact that Marmora has his tail so plainly in view, it was clear that he could (if Keith didn’t use his powers) kick Keith’s ass._

_Marmora smiled at Keith awkwardly, before he bowed, and headed off towards the King. Keith decided to follow him, and stand with him while he was told the... uh, news, before he got caught by Talos, who had finally left his Lion._

_“Hi, my name is Talos! I guess you already knew that, since you asked me to step forward and all, but I’m just awkward and I’m so sorry about that.” Keith laughed quietly, “Anyway, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now...?” Keith nodded._

_“All Paladins will be required to live in the Castle of Lions, so yes. We will be seeing much more of each other. Is there any reason you ask?" Talos blushed slightly._

_"Well, the thing is, I actually don't... I don't have many friends... so... I thought maybe we could be friends? I mean I know you're a Prince and all, and you probably wont wanna mix will a filthy Galra runt like me, you know? Anyway-" Keith cut him off with a kind smile._

_"Of course I'll be your friend, runt or not. Is there any reason other than that as to why you don't have many friends?" Talos' gaze shifted to Marmora who was still talking to the King, but his back was to the both of them, so they couldn't see his expression, but his tail was stiff and rigid._

_"He's been my best friend ever since I can remember, and as you probably spotted, he's a half-born. They all think he's impure. Dirty. Not worth their time, especially since he's so small, and his tail is different. Plus, being a runt myself doesn't help that. It's not that I don't care about him, just sometimes it gets a little lonely when it's just me and him, you know?" Keith knew. His only friend was Allura, and she was his twin, for fucks sake. And the oldest one, too._

_"I know what you mean."  Keith jumped suddenly when he felt something briefly brush up against his back, he whipped around and grabbed at what had touched him. His fingers barely just stroked something thin and furry, before he saw the flash of blue and purple being snatched away by a pale purple hand, just to look and see the tips of burning red pointy ears. Marmora was clutching his tail, his face and ears burning a bright purple, said ears flat against his head, his extremely sharp fangs biting into the soft flesh of his lip, light purple blood trickling down the side of his mouth. He was digging his sharp claws into his left palm, purple blood dripping onto the floor. Keith knew it was taking all of Marmora's strength not to cry out, pain or paralysis, Keith wasn't sure. For some reason, this made Keith blush furiously._

_"I-I'm so, so sorry, Marmora. I didn't mean too, I swear." Marmora's whole body shook._

_"Not... Your... Fault..." He whimpered. Talos' whole body shook with laughter. And that was the start of the trio's amazing adventures..._

Lance gasped as Allura's cold hands fell off his face. He fell to the floor, clutching his head, gasping.

"That's all I can do for you right now, Lance. Come back after you've had a long rest." But Lance had finally got an idea about what happened. Keith was bonded to Talos and Marmora. Even married to one of them, and judging from what he had heard earlier from Keith, a mission had gone horribly wrong, and Keith, Talos and Marmora had gotten separated and no one knew what had happened to Talos and Marmora, but they were assumed dead. Lance suddenly realised Allura had been staring at him intently.

"Not bad, Lance. But you don't know the half of it..." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! Any and all feedback is appreciated and your thoughts help me and make me cry in a great way! I love to know what you think of this story, and comments are the only way I know people are reading it! X


	6. Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a weird dream, and runs into Keith, who is acting a little strange. But together, they figure out what Lance’s dream means.

Lance followed Allura’s orders and went back to his bedroom, but he couldn’t sleep. Baring in mind, it was still quite early in the morning. Lance stayed there for hours, before finally slipping out of consciousness. His dream felt weird; like he was experiencing someone else’s thoughts and feelings. 

_Appreciate. Length. Indefinitely. Voices. Echo. Appreciate. Length. Indefinitely. Voices. Echo. Appreciate. Length. Indefinitely. Voices. Echo._

It just kept repeating those words, in a voice Lance was familiar with, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on who. He jumped out of bed and snatched up a piece of paper and a pencil (the only thing other than his clothes that he brought from home, he rarely used it because it was so important,). He wrote the words down in his barely legible chicken-scratch. 

Appreciate.

Length.

Indefinitely.

Voices.

Echo. 

He looked at them intently, as if he could stare at them until they gave him an answer. It was worth a shot, and Lance always felt like he concentrated better in his and Keith’s usual place where they ran into each other. It was a place on the ship that Lance thought only him, Keith and Allura knew about. Because, sometimes, Allura would join them. And they would _talk_. About everything and nothing. About their families and those they left behind. Keith was usually more talkative when Allura was around, so when it was just the two of them, they would usually sit in comfortable silence, staring out of the massive window that would map out the constellations for millions of light years.

Lance’s favourite attraction in the universe was Lagoon Nebulae. Allura’s was the weird and wonderful planets that they would pass and their inhabitants. Keith’s was Colliding Galaxies. He would probably sit there for billions of years just to watch them devour each other, and the starburst activity which leads to the birth of new stars. The bright colours of the universe would reflect in the violet eyes and the corners of the aliens mouth would turn up.

Lance felt like he was drowning in Keith. 

Lance’s door opened quietly, and he started making his way down the corridor. He made two rights, headed down straight then took a left, and climbed up a wooden ladder. He pushed the trapdoor open silently, and pulled himself up, before fully realising that the room was not entirely empty. Towards the middle of the room were three duvets and a whole fort of pillows, all facing the see through wall. In that moment, Lance felt like he was drifting away. That the universe was taking him home. But he snapped out of his stupor when he noticed Keith standing right up against the glass, hands pushed up flat against it. 

“Keith?” Lance called out, but he received no response. Lance was slightly worried by the way Keith was acting. He was staring unmoving out of the window. Only then did Lance notice the way that Keith was actually pushing his fingernails into the glass wall so much that they had been bent and snapped. It made Lance feel sick, they were bleeding all down Keith’s arms; staining the blue and purple marks a nasty shade of red that Lance had seen them before only once, but somehow it felt like more than that. Lance ran forwards and pulled Keith away from the window, only to have Keith blink at Lance like he hadn’t realised he was there. 

“L-Lance? When did you get here?” Keith looked at him with genuine confusion. 

“I’ll do you a better one. What the hell were you doing?!” Keith’s look of confusion only became more confused. 

“What do you mean?” Lance’s eyes widened with shock. He reached out, silently asking the prince for permission to touch him, who just nodded, probably wanting an explanation. Lance’s long fingers gently wrapped around Keith’s wrist, before pulling his mutilated fingers into his eye line. Keith stared at them in shock, before something like realisation clouded across his face. His eyes drifted back to the window, where there were ten pools of dripping blood sliding down it. Then he looked back down at his fingers. 

“Oh.” Was all he muttered. His eyes slid up to Lance’s face, but with a speed that scared Lance, Keith’s eyes snapped to the piece of paper that Lance held in his tanned hand. “What’s that?” Lance shrugged slightly. 

“I had a weird dream; it just kept repeating those words, it was a voice I’m familiar with, but I can’t remember who.” He held out the paper to Keith, whose face contorted in pain and straight up fear. “Do they mean anything to you?” 

“No way... it can’t be...” Lance frowned. 

“What is it, Keith?” Keith looked into Lance’s face, but Lance got the feeling that the prince couldn’t see him. 

“It was only a dream. I swear, it was only a dream.” 

“Keith!” The prince’s head snapped up. 

“Right... sorry. Um. So, I had these... friends, Marmora and Talos, but they... they didn’t make it. Soon after what had happened, I had a dream. Basically, it was Marmora speaking to me. But everyone of those words were in the paragraph he spoke to me. He said;

 _‘Appreciate what I’m about to tell you. No matter how long the length of space between us it will never matter, because we are never parted. Dead or alive. Indefinitely, we will meet again. Voices will echo in your head and your sanity will be stolen, but remember us and where we used to talk about.’_ I thought it was my mind grieving, but maybe...” He trailed off. Lance stared at the piece of paper, only just noticing something. 

_Appreciate. Length. Indefinitely. Voices. Echo._

Appre... len... inde... voi... ech... 

A. 

L. 

I. 

V. 

E. 

_Alive._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER!!! Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! Any and all feedback is appreciated! X


	7. Time To Go Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith show Allura the sheet of paper, explaining what happened. Keith's mind seems elsewhere as the Castle of Lions floats aimlessly around in space, thanks to Keith accidently breaking the Balmeran Crystal. When they try to form Voltron to drag the Castle to the nearest Balmera, something prevents them.

"Keith... Keith, it says alive. _Alive_. Keith, Marmora and Talos may still be alive. Somehow, they may have sent us a message." Keith's eyes were fastened on the piece of paper.

"Where we used to talk about... that was Earth! Marmora was half human, and we used to wonder what the humans were like," Keith said dazedly, as if not being able to believe what was happening. "Marmora might be on Earth... Lance, as soon as we get a new Crystal, you could go home!" Lance's heart swelled like a balloon.

"We have to show Allura!" Lance and Keith tore down the ladder, and towards the royal suite where Keith and Allura both slept. Lance noticed how much Keith's hands were shaking as he fumbled to open her door, but he put it down to Keith's excitement. Neither boy were surprised to find Shiro asleep in the chair by Allura's bed. One of said princess's eyes opened blearily.

"W'at 'er you two doin' in here? Were you makin' out and stumbled into the wrong room or somethin'?" Both boys felt a blush creep up their necks but Lance knew they didn't have time.

"No, Allura, we were not making out. You're gonna want to here this; it's about Talos and Marmora, we think they're alive." This grabbed the sleepy princess's attention. She sat up in her bed.

"What?" Keith nodded vigorously.

"It's true, sister. Remember that dream I had after the accident? Lance had a dream, which repeated five words: appreciate, length, indefinitely, voices and echo. All of those words were in the dream that I had, and look at what the first letters spell!" Keith snatched the piece of paper and Lance's pencil, and wrote in impeccable handwriting that reminded Lance of the Patrick Hand font, even with his mutilated still bleeding nails. He wrote 'Alive', and shoved it in her face, "ALIVE! Marmora spoke of Earth in my dream, and we have reason to believe that he's on Earth!" Allura smiled brightly at Keith.

"Then it's settled. We're going to Earth! Keith, why don't you go and wake the other Paladins, we're going to need to form Voltron to get us to the closest Balmera!" Keith grinned a truly blinding smile. It was beautiful. Keith was beautiful. As soon as the door shut Allura's smile fell entirely off her tanned face.

"What is it, Allura?" She frowned up at Lance.

"Keith can't read or write English. He knows your time measurements, but his brain could never get around reading or writing in English. The Castle of Lions is completely programmed in Altean, as you know.” She pulled out a small see-through tablet from her bedside table and it flicked on, showing symbols and letters that couldn't even start to think about pronouncing. "What do you think that says?" Lance shrugged.

"I have no idea."

"It says hello. Do you think that you could write that perfectly on your first attempt?"

"Hell no." She looked worried again.

"Exactly. He never could do it, even if he was copying a letter off someone else, and yet he wrote so perfectly right then. I highly doubt that he's been taking lessons in English. And did you see his fingers?! His nails were mutilated and bleeding out all over him! Do you know what happened to him?" It was Lance's turn to frown.

"Not really... I walked into the astronomy room and he was already in there, but he was pushing his fingers into the glass, which is why they were all broken and busted. He seemed really out of it, you know? It was weird, man."

"We need to keep an eye on him," Said Allura sadly. Lance nodded.

"Princess? How are we going to get to the Lions? There's no power?" Allura turned to Lance as she shook Shiro awake.

"Hunk's Bayard and Keith's Luxite Blade that Marmora gave him should be powerful enough to break through the doors. Then, you will form Voltron and push the Castle of Lions to the closest Balmera, which is only roughly three Earth hours away, so we should be there in no time  at all. We get a new Crystal, and worm-hole back to the Milky Way, find a secluded area to land, then actually land. We see if Marmora is there, if so rescue him, if not, then it can be a nice vacation. You can all go and visit your families. All in all, it should be an okay trip!" Lance grinned, deciding that he would ask about the gift from Marmora later.

"To the Balmera we go." Keith returned shortly after with the rest of the Paladins, where Keith and Allura informed them in about what was going on, who Talos and Marmora were, but not what might have or may not have happened to them, and why they had to get to the Balmera before the ship ran out of air. Together, Keith and Hunk made their way through all of the Lion Hanger doors. It took some time, but finally they got out into space.

"Alright team," Shiro yawned widely, "E'reybody jus' form Voltron, 'kay? Thanks." Everyone was groggy, except Lance and Keith. Forming Voltron happened when the team dug deep into the bonds with their Lions, and then their teammates, they would focus on the small tug in the back of minds, and it would pull them all together, and into Voltron. To form Voltron, you needed an equal bond with your teammates and Lion, otherwise it wouldn't work. It was all built around trust, which would allow access into another's brain. The pilots would drift. The stronger the drift, the stronger Voltron was.

Lance felt the familiar tug, and latched onto it. It guided him to the rest of the team, or so he thought. Someone wasn't there. Lance couldn't tell who, but he could guess. The tug was gone in an instant. Shiro's tired voice crackled over the coms.

"W'at the fuckity fuck was that?You know what, I actually don't give a shit. Shut the fuck up, Pidge, I'm the adult here and sometimes adults need to swear." There was a pause, where Lance could tell Pidge was verbally attacking their Space Dad. "I'm not fucking six for the last goddamn time, you little shit. Guess we're gonna have to push the Castle separated. Pidge, one more word, so help me God, I will leave you here to spontaneously combust, and Allura can pilot the Green Lion." At this point everyone was crying with laughter, even Keith had cracked a smile. "Why are you like this, meme-child."

They started to push the Castle, and it was going faster than everyone thought it would. It took them half an hour to get to the Balmera. They left their Lions, and Hunk ran to meet Shay. Their reunion was heart-warming, but Keith and Allura had already began the ritual. When they did it together, it took half the time. Lance never complained, they both looked duper hot doing it. With the help of the Balmerans, they managed to fix the new Crystal into place, and the Castle was up and running once more. They departed from the Balmera and instantly fired up the teladuv. It took a few jumps, but finally Lance saw it. The Milky Way was so beautiful.

They passed Kerberos.

The reality finally started to sink in.

_Pluto._

He could finally see them again.

_Neptune._

Louis and Ronnie.

_Uranus._

His Mamá and Papá.

_Saturn._

Sparky, his dog.

_Jupiter._

His Abuela and his Abuelo.

_Mars._

Billie.

_Earth._

Pip.

**Lance was home.**

They landed by Lotors old house, and Lance sprinted for the exit, gripping Keith by the hand, determained to show him everything Earth had to offer, almost forgetting that they were there to find his fiancé. Lance laughed as he stumbled outside and kicked off his shoes, needing to feel the sand in between his toes. He could hear Keith giggling behind him. Lance was so elated to be home, that he pulled Keith in close. They were, um, really close, Lance suddenly realised. Foreheads pressed together, they laughed together for what seemed like an eternity. Lance wanted to make this moment last forever. He was home with his new best friends. _He was home._

"Lance, Hunk and Pidge all of you go. Find your family and friends. They deserve to know everything. Lance, you can take Keith as proof if you want, and I'll go with Pidge and Hunk. Lotor, you can come with us." Lance's face hurt from all of the smiling. He quickly tugged his shoes back on.

"Lance, your house is the furthest away from here. You and Keith can take my bike," Lotor told Lance with a smile, even he seemed to be glad to be back on Earth. Lance had never moved so fast in his life. He gave Lotor a quick hug, took his keys, and hopped up on the back of his speed bike. When Keith hopped up behind him, he felt like he might explode. It didn't take Lance very long to get back to his house, he hid the bike in the garage. He pulled his set of keys out of the garage lock, and stared down at his house key in his right hand, he smiled again. He felt a cool hand with dried blood and broken nails slip into his left. He looked and saw Keith smiling at him encouragingly.

"You got this." Lance hugged him so tightly.

"Thank you," Lance pulled Keith to the front door. His mamá, Ronnie, and Louis’s car's were all in the driveway. That meant that they were cooking dinner and waiting for his papá to get home from work. Ronnie wasn't in London. He would get to see everyone. He pushed the key into the lock, took a deep breath, and turned it. He immediately saw a coffee table at the end of the hallway. It had a bunch of roses lying on top of it, in front of a picture frame. Inside that frame was a picture of Lance, laughing. Tears cascaded down his cheeks, and Keith squeezed his hand.

"Diego? Mi amor, you're home early."

Lance took another deep breath, before he took three strides forward and turned into the doorframe, and he looked at his beautiful family. His brother, Louis, was sat next to his sister, Veronica, at the dinner table, both with their backs to him. His mamá was stood at the stove, bent over the family meal that she was cooking. Her hair had gone a little grayer since the last time he had seen her, but she was still beautiful in Lance’s eyes. 

“Diego, come in here and taste this pasta sauce. It-” She finally looked up and laid eyes on her son. Her little boy. “L-Lance...?” She whispered uncertainly. Lance was surprised when he heard Ronnie scoff. 

“Not again. Oh, mamá. We know you miss him, but he’s gone. If your therapist heard you talking like that, he’d probably send you to an asylum or something.” She looked up at her mother, and turned to see what she was looking at. She gasped. 

“Lance? Mi hermano pequeño, is that really you?” Louis also looked up, and almost fell off his chair. Then, Lance’s mother spoke the most heartbreaking thing he thought she ever could say. 

“You... you can see him too?” Lance’s eyes widened, before he sprinted into the room, and hugged his mother like he was going to die if he didn’t. 

“Mamá, it’s me, mamá. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean too, and I can explain I pro-” He was cut off by his brother and sister coming and joining the big family hug. They were all crying and hugging each other, when Lance’s papá, Diego, walked through the door. He dropped his bag, and rushed forwards. He grabbed Lance by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up. Keith thought he might need to intervene, until Lance’s father pulled him as close as he could, before placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. 

“Mi hijo. mi dulce niño. ¿Dónde has estado?” Lance just clutched onto his like a koala bear. He thought he was home when he landed on Earth, but he was wrong. _This_ was home. Home was being in the arms of his family, his heels being licked at by his small dog. Keith watching over them with an endearing little smile on his face. 

 _That_  was home.

The moment only lasted a second, however, before Lance’s mother had whipped out her wooden spoon and started beating Lance with it. 

“Where.” _Smack._ “Have.” _Thunk._ “You.” _Backhand._ “Been.” _Right on the nose._ “Stupid.” _Bang._ “Child!” Diego managed to just about pull his wife back, to refrain her from hitting Lance anymore. 

Lance looked at Keith, who only nodded. 

“Ummm... well, it all started with this Blue Lion.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! please leave you thoughts in the comments, any and all feedback is appreciated!!! X


	8. Billie And Pip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has returned home, back to his family. But he goes home to Pip and Billie.

Lance was there for a while, occasionally clutching onto an uncomfortable Keith. He spoke loudly and with enthusiasm, his hands flailing about, a grin plastered onto his face. By the time he was finished his voice was hoarse, but he was still grinning like an idiot. 

“And now I’m home. We’re here to find Marmora-” Louis cut him off. 

“I _knew_ the Garrison was hiding something.” Ronnie nodded in agreement, but their máma had a more pressing comment. 

“I told you that you weren’t allowed to get a cat! No, Lance, I could not give any less shits if it’s a great big blue fucking Lion. No cats. You know about my allergies.” And then she pointed her wooden spoon at Keith, who flinched away slightly, “and, I told you that you’re not allowed a girlfriend or a fucking boyfriend until you’re thirty years old!” Lance blushed again. He could see Keith grimacing at Ronnie, who was staring at him dreamily. Only Keith knew what she was thinking, and judging by his face, it was NSFW. 

“He’s not my boyfriend, máma. He’s my... he’s my Space Ranger Partner.” He said, satisfied. Ronnie murmured something, and suddenly Keith threw his head back and laughed. Lance had never see Keith laugh. Not like this. His whole body was shaking, his arms coiled around his stomach, which was aching like nothing he’d ever felt. Fat tears fell from his eyes as he snorted slightly with every breath. Lance knew what was happening before Keith did, and as soon as he noticed Keith’s legs wobble, he crossed the room quickly before Keith collapsed on the floor. He was still laughing though. Lance just smiled down at the alien. He was fascinating. And beautiful. It took Lance a second to realise that Keith wasn’t laughing anymore, but staring up at him, with his purple eyes, a faint blush staining his cheeks. He had read Lance’s mind. Panic coursed through him, as he steadied Keith and took a step back. 

“Um...” Lance started, rubbing the back of his burning neck. 

“Take Keith to your room, Lance. Get him some new clothes. They may be a little big on him but it should do.” Lance nodded numbly, before beckoning Keith to follow him up the stairs. They climbed in complete silence, before Keith couldn’t really take it anymore. 

“I can’t usually hear or see what you’re thinking; you’ve gotten really good at hiding your thoughts. Thank you for sharing that, even if it was an accident. I-I um... I think you’re beautiful too.” He barely whispered, just loud enough for Lance to hear him. Lance stopped, turned, and gaped at Keith. 

“Seriously? You’re not mad?” Keith’s eyebrows pinched with confusion. 

“Why would I be angry? We’re friends, aren’t we?” Lance made sure that his thoughts were secret this time. There was something odd about the way Keith said that. It sounded like he was trying to break through some mental barrier desperately. Pleading. Like he needed to prove the point, as if his life depended on it. His eyes were wide and almost crazy, a strange smile on his lips. 

“Yeah, of course we are.” Lance smiled his best fake smile. The truth was, that was fucking scary. He had never seen Keith look like that before; like he wasn’t looking at Keith at all, like he was some random stranger. 

Lance inhaled sharply as he pushed open his door. It was the same as the day he left it for the Garrison. He kept a load of spare clothes in his wardrobe, just in case he ever needed to come home. Lance let Keith pick his clothes, and the alien prince settled for a red plaid shirt to hang over his black tank top, and a pair of rolled up blue jeans. Keith had used his chameleon ability to shrink his ears down and cover the beautiful Altean marks. Keith looked like an everyday teenager. Except that wasn’t true. Keith would stick out like a sore thumb wherever he went, because he was so attractive. Lance pulled Keith downstairs, and kissed his máma on the cheek. 

“And where do you think you’re going? We just got you back!” Lance smiled at her. 

“There’s two people that I’ve kept waiting long enough, máma.” Mrs McClain’s eyes widened in understanding. 

“Go to him, mi hijo.” Lance nodded, and pulled Keith out of the house. 

“Who are we going to see?” Keith asked hesitantly, but Lance just smiled at him. 

“They... they’re kind of like my Talos and Marmora.” Keith’s eyes shut with pain. 

“You... you know more about them than the rest of the other Paladins. What did Allura show you?” 

“How you met them. And... and when you were having your nightmare, Allura and I heard kind of like an echo, and we felt what you felt that day. Allura said something to you in Altean, but I’m not sure what she said...” 

“‘Oalisa hustas, Keith! Balmarpa estos gat kilolib jit Marmora di Talos, saloberix onoré!’ Meant ‘Wake up, Keith! There is still hope for Marmora and Talos, believe me!’  
‘Poplise kilolib, Keith’ means ‘Have hope, Keith.’” He recited. “We never actually knew what happened to them. I was knocked unconscious.” He said, pain dripping from his voice. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Lance told him firmly. “Now get on this bike. I’m taking you to meet Billie and Pip.” 

* * *

 

They sped along the streets on Lotor’s bike. Lance knew these streets like the back of his hand. He turned a corner, and there it was. Billie’s house stood proud and tall. It was only a two bedroom house, as Billie didn’t have any siblings. Lance skidded to a halt, parked the bike, and headed to her front door. Another deep breath. He knocked four times in a little rhythm that only Billie and Lance knew. He heard quick, light feet tearing down the stairs, as someone small and ginger wearing an oversized hoodie barrelled into the front door, before yanking it open. 

There she was. Just as beautiful as ever. Lance thought this until she had him by the ear, and was dragging him down to her height. Billie was already sobbing as she screamed at Lance. 

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU ASSHOLE?! YOU BROKE HIS HEART! I LOVE YOU AND I MISSED YOU SO MUCH, DON’T YOU DARE DO THAT TO US AGAIN _OR I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL END YOU!_ ” It all came out of her mouth so fast, Lance could barely keep up, so instead he scooped the girl up into his arms. 

“I missed you too, Billie.” She clutched onto him like if she let go he would disappear again. 

“Lance... I really did miss you.” Lance’s heart shattered, as he squeezed Billie tighter. 

“I need to see him, and when we’re all together again I can explain where I’ve been, and who this is.” Lance gestured to Keith, who waved so awkwardly it was painful to watch. Billie nodded, and let go of Lance, and offered her hand to Keith. 

“I’m Billie, Lance’s friend. Are you an alien? Where did you come from? Has Lance been a pain in your ass?” Keith took it. 

“Keith, it’s nice to meet you. Um, yes, Altea, and yes.” Billie laughed at the hurt look on Lance's face, before turning back to Lance and kicking him in the shin. 

“Fucking ouch! I-I actually deserved that.” Billie seemed satisfied with this, before she spoke again. 

“Pip’s still in his old house, across the road there. He needs to see you, Lance.” Lance nodded at Billie and Keith in turn. Oh, he was definitely a gonner. Pip was going to kill him. He had never been this nervous in his life. He knocked once. Twice. Three times. There was a familiar call of, "It's alright, dad. I'll get it." He knew that voice, it was Pip. His voice was so smooth, yet rough when he got angry, or upset. The door opened, and Lance literally latched onto the shorter body in front of him.

"L-Lance?" He felt the word, more than he heard Pip's tiny whisper. He could only nod as he felt Pip's strong arms wrap around his waist, but he didn't squeeze, as if he was too rough Lance might break. "Wh-where were you? I thought you were dead... I thought..." Lance pulled back, and clutched onto Pip's shoulders, and he looked down into the smaller boy's tear filled green eyes. "Why did you leave me?" He whispered, and Lance felt his heart break once again.

"I didn't want to, I swear. I can explain, you probably wont believe me, but I can explain." Pip shook his head, his eyes never leaving Lance, as if worried that if he looked away Lance would disappear again.

"I just wanna know why you left me. Scratch that, I _need_ to know why you left me." Lance looked back at Keith. "Did he take you? Are-are you _with_ him?" Lance faced Pip again.

"No, and no. He's just a friend. Pip, you gotta let me explain. He's my proof." Pip nodded numbly.

"Please, don't leave me again." Lance shook his head.

"I'll take you with me this time, I promise. I know you hate it here, Billie can come too. I wont leave you behind ever again. When we're done on Earth, I'll show you the universe. Escape this hell-hole with me."

"Is that where you've been all this time? In space?" Lance nodded.

Pip nodded, smiling his amazingly bright smile.

"I made you a promise once. I promised I follow you to the end of the Earth, and beyond, if need be. It's time I kept my promise." Lance smiled back, and embraced his friend once again. "No matter what I hope, I'm pretty sure that you didn't come home for me. Why are you here?” Lance pulled Pip back to Keith and Billie, and started to explain. Pip and Billie were both in tears by the end of it. 

“Can... can I come with you this time?” Billie asked tentatively. Lance frowned. 

“Yeah, I mean of course you’re welcome to come, but what about your dad?” Billie’s face darkened. 

“He got a new girlfriend. Twenty years younger than him. He can rot for all I care.” Lance smiled, despite Billie’s statement. 

“Well then, welcome to team Voltron. Both of yo- _DUCK!_ ” Lance grabbed Pip’s hand and dragged him down onto the floor. Billie trusted Lance and let her knees give out, dogging a blast of Druid thiré. Keith had lost control once again. Purple eyes fully black, Keith was levitating. 

“Get. Out. Of. Me!” He yelled, his Druid electricity spreading out like extra arms. With one, agonised scream a black entity left Keith’s fragile body, which dropped to the floor. The black thing flew straight into Pip. 

“Finally, I’m back on Earth. You can’t stop me, only the Halfling can, and he’s not gonna live much longer! And, you’d have to kill my vessel, and you won’t! Thank you so much for your help, Keith. I couldn’t have done it without you. You’re in the endgame now, Princey. I _do_ hope you live. You’re sweet. ” And with that, Pip was gone. 

“What the fuck was that?!” Lance didn’t hear Billie’s question, he was too busy diving at Keith. 

“I can’t find a pulse!” He started CPR and chest compressions, before giving Keith mouth-to-mouth. Keith’s lips were soft, not like anyone else’s lips Lance had ever felt. Fireworks exploded inside him, and electricity shot down his spine, but he couldn’t focus on that, only the fact of finding the boys pulse. “Come on, Keith. Cuídate. Nos vemos en el otro lado.”

This time, it wasn’t a question.

This time, it was a promise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! Any and all feedback is appreciated, so PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS!!!!!!!! I can’t improve if I don’t know what you guys think of my story! X


	9. Oxkafunana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith won’t wake up. Pip is gone. Lance and Billie have no idea what to do. Lance realises just how much he needs Keith.

Lance kept doing CPR for ten minutes. _One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty one. Twenty two. Twenty three. Twenty four. Twenty five. Twenty six. Twenty seven. Twenty eight. Twenty nine. Thirty. One breath. Two breaths. Check for a pulse._

“Lance...” Billie whispered. 

“Come on, you estúpido idiota.” Lance felt Keith’s neck again, “Come on!” Then, he felt it. Keith’s pulse was way too weak. But it was there.

“We have to get him out of the road!” Lance said to Billie. With her help, Lance managed to hoist Keith onto his back, and carried him to the alleyway where he first met Pip and Winter. _Pip_. God-fucking-dammit. He had only just got his best friends back, and yet he was ripped away cruelly so fast. Lance set Keith’s spasmodic body down on the floor as gently as he could. Now that Keith was unconscious, his chameleon powers had worn off. Keith’s ears had grown back to their normal, pointed selves, and the Altean markings under his eyes had returned to his intimidating violet. Keith’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, so Lance and Billie could see the ombré markings that were slowly fading back from black and red to purple and blue. Billie couldn’t stop staring. Geez, this boy was so fucking beautiful. 

In that very moment, time stood still. 

Lance tore his eyes away from the sickly pale boy and stepped out of the alleyway, to be greeted by a sight that Lance had never welcomed more. 

“Allura!” Somehow, Allura had acquired Lotors hover bike, and rode it into view, looking like she was about to collapse. 

“Needs... a... healing... pod.” She groaned, gesturing vaguely to Keith, and Lance had already pulled Keith behind his twin. Billie climbed up too, reminding Lance of the night he first met Shiro. 

They made it back to the Castle of Lions just in time; the unsteady rise and fall of Keith’s chest was becoming more gradual, as Lance basically dragged the Space Prince into a healing pod. Lance thought Keith looked pretty damn good in the cryogenic suit, but he kept his mind entirely shut off from Allura. Billie just followed Lance with a look of awe on her pale face. One Keith’s pod was set up and ready, Allura started looking a little better. 

“What the cheese was that back there? The fuck did you come from?” Lance asked. Allura motioned for Lance and Billie to sit down with her. 

“On Earth I believe you call it ‘twin-tuition’ or something along those lines. It doesn’t usually impact us unless the other is in agony or is about to die. As you can see, we are definitely not identical twins. But I could sense that he was in immense pain, and I could tell where he was.” Lance nodded and gestured to Billie, who was still gaping and looking around, like she was about to say “it’s bigger on the inside” or something like that. 

“This is my friend, Billie. Um, and the thingy that came out of Keith is currently possessing my other best friend, so... yeah.” Allura’s face pinched up with confusion. 

“Something came out of Keith?” Lance nodded grimly. 

“It was like black smoke or something... Keith’s body seemed to be fighting something off, you know? Cuz his electricity and weird fire stuff kept coming out of his body. The Keith started to float and he screamed something like “Get out of me!” So it did and Keith fell onto the floor and he wasn’t breathing and it went straight into Pip and started saying something?” 

Allura ignored Lance’s rambling and poor grammar patiently.

“What did it say?” Lance scratched his head. To be fair, he wasn’t really listening, mostly because the purple eyes that Lance had become so used to tracing with his own had changed colour once again, not to mention _Keith started floating like something out of It._  

“Uh, something about being back on Earth, and a dying Halfling being able to stop it... um, a vessel? Then it thanked Keith, said something about him being in the endgame. That’s about it.” Allura had paled considerably. “What is it?” She looked scared. The more scared he had ever seen the powerful princess. 

“I can’t be sure, Lance.” 

“What do you think it is?” 

“Well, on Altea we called them ‘Oxkafunana’. On Earth, I believe you call them demons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! Any and all feedback is appreciated! You guys are the best! Sorry about the long wait :( and the short chapter :(( maybe the next chapter will be better lol


	10. Finding Marmora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team look for Marmora yaaay maybe they find him maybe they don’t ;)

Lance laughed at Allura. Big mistake. 

“I’m not joking around, Lance. This is serious! If my brotherr has already been possessed, there’s a higher chance of it happened again! You said something about a dying Halfling. That has to be Marmora. We need to find him; he must know how to exorcise this thing out of your friend, then he must kill it. But we have to find him!” She said all of this whilst her and Lance were mirroring their position from when they first met. Lance didn’t think his ears were ever going to be the same again. He wasn’t laughing anymore. 

“How are we supposed to find him?” Lance whimpered. Allura finally let him go, but his ears still hurt and he rubbed them angrily. 

“On the ship, there should be a scanner. It should scan all alien life and identity them, and categorise them, in the area, kind of like radar. It might get jumbled because of all you humans, but it still should work. I mean, if it survived ten thousand years of not being used. And, I have no idea where it could be... when the Castle was out of commission, we’ve since found out that some advanced thieves have broken in and taken things... we can only hope that this scanner was not taken.” Billie, who seemed to have recovered slightly, spoke up. 

“This is all made of the same alien tech, right?” Allura nodded. 

“The scanner is Altean, like the rest of the ship.” 

“Well, if we could find another tech genius like me, we could probably create an algorithm that could instruct the Castle’s main system to scan every inch of this place, so if this thing still works and is on the ship, you would definitely be able to find it. But I can’t do this alone.” Lance turned to Allura, both sharing the same, knowing smirk. 

“Where did you leave Pidge and Hunk anyway?” 

 

* * *

 

Thanks to Lotors bike, the Cuban boy managed to make it back to Pidge’s house, where she and Hunk were. Lance had kind of forgotten about Colleen. And, he’d only just said goodbye to Matt and Commander Holt as they had left for home just after Zarkon had been killed. As soon as he stepped into the living room, Colleen was hugging him tightly. 

“Thank you. For protecting my family.” Lance hugged her back. 

“I would say ‘It’s been an honour’ but, if I’m being entirely honest, your children have saved my grateful ass on many more occasions then I’ve saved theirs. But, I’ve come with bad news. I’ve come to steal your daughter and your almost son.” Colleen’s face fell slightly, but smiled at Lance. 

“It must be important. Just... just promise me you’ll be here tomorrow? I need to catch up with my children. Yes Hunk, that includes you.” Hunk’s mom and dad lived abroad, so he practically lived with the Holts. 

“I swear it on my life.” She smiled at that, but lightly smacked his head. 

“You shouldn’t swear on your life. One day, destiny might decide that it’s time for you to pay up.” Lance laughed and waved her off, not really thinking about her words all that much.

Pidge looked slightly upset as she waved to her family, so did Hunk, as they both followed Lance back onto the bike. 

“Why did you need us, Lance?” He could hear a slight tinge of hurt in the tiny human’s voice. It was understandable; Lance knew how much it would’ve annoyed him if they had come to get _him,_ andif he was being completely honest, he was surprised that the two of them had decided to come. He knew he wouldn’t have. 

“Well, basically, Keith was kinda possessed by this evil Oxka-something that’s basically a demon, and when I went to see Billie and Pip with him, it kinda left his body and went into Pip, who then made a really dramatic speach about Marmora? Anyway, Pip then vanished and Keith stopped breathing, so I had to save him, then Allura shows up out of nowhere, may I just add, and drags Keith to a healing pod. Because me and Allura are Smart Cookies, we figured out a way to find Marmora, haha just kidding that was Allura but details details, amiright? There’s this alien radar thing that can search for Marmora, and Billie was suddenly all like ‘You need an algorithm and stuff! Find me another smart human person and stuff!’ And boom, I’m here!”

Lance finished, finally taking a breath. Was he not breathing? Oops. That would probably explain Pidge’s and Hunk’s expressions; Pidge’s was caught somewhere between horror and being impressed, and Hunk was just full on gawping. Pidge recovered first, 

“An algorithm? Which kind? A simple recursive algorithm? A divide and conquer algorithm? A brute force algorithm?” She looked at him like she expected those words to mean anything to him. 

“Um... I have not the slightest idea about what just came out of your mouth. Like, _whatsoever_. All I know is that Billie needs you to create an algorithm that will allow her to scan the ship to see if that radar thing is still on there, that’s it.” Lance looked down worriedly at Pidge as she started mumbling to herself, just a tad to quiet for Lance to hear, although he was pretty sure that he heard ‘Who does this girl think she is?’ And ‘Bobbie better know her stuff.’ It sounded mostly like scientific death threats to Lance, who believed that it was best to not get involved. He valued his kneecaps too much for that. One thing you should know about Pidge: Her teeth are sharp, and she has mastered the art of agile koala. Do not let her size fool you; she is the Antichrist in disguise. 

Lance and Hunk conversed quietly the whole way back, even if Lance had to keep his eye on the road. This brought back memories of the Garrison; and how they used to take road trips together. It had been so long since Hunk and Lance had actually _talked_. Sure, there was always chatter on the ship, but Lance could barely remember the last time when Hunk and him had actually talked about how they were feeling. He missed this. He missed Hunk. Yes, he saw the big guy everyday, yes, he still loved him and saw him as his best friend, but Lance had made new friends. He felt Hunk slipping away. They both needed this, so Pidge let them have it, only occasionally asking questions, but she seemed content with just listening to them chat and discuss their lives. They talked the whole way there, only stopping when the Castle of Lions was right in front of them. They all entered the ship, which had become so familiar to them in the last couple of months. They found Allura in the medical bay, where they had left her. She was staring at her brother. Billie was standing back, knee bouncing awkwardly. Her eyes lit up as soon as they landed on him, crossing the room quickly. 

“Thank fuck. I didn’t think you were ever coming back, and she’s just been staring at him this whole time!” She whispered, desperation evident in her deep blue eyes. Pidge was staring at Billie, her gaze calculating, but not necessarily cold. Her brandy eyes swept over the taller girl.

“So, you’re the other genius whose had to save this Cuban’s scrawny ass more than once?” Her brandy eyes soft. 

“ _Tell me about it._ ” Billie rolled her eyes fondly. Lance was about to defend himself, when Allura made a startled noise. Lance turned to see Keith quivering in his pod, hands raking up and down his forearms, even through the fabric. 

“Is he having a nightmare?” Allura’s head shook.

“His brainwaves would show on the scanner.”

“Then what is it?”  

“I don’t know?” 

“What’s happening?! This has never happened before?!” Lance cried as he got extremely close to the pod. A second later, Keith’s eyes snapped open, as his hands reached out and tore through the cryogenic shield.

Allura looked like she was about to be sick.

“What is it?” He fell straight into Lance’s arms. Heh, he’d had both of them cradled in his arms now. But Keith was unconscious. 

“His brainwaves were no longer there. When he opened his eyes, he was in a coma. When he reached out, he was dead.” Lance stared at the sleeping prince in his arms, who was definitely alive. 

“This could be a side effect of being possessed, though. I’ve heard of this. This will probably put him into a temporary coma... maybe even permanent.” Allura choked. Lance’s stomach dropped. Keith was in a coma. Maybe in one forever. No. That wouldn’t happen. He refused to let it. Billie looked at Pidge, who nodded. 

“Well, we’re gonna get started. We don’t have any time to lose.” The two walked off, quietly discussing their theories, while Lance, Hunk and Allura all banded together to look after Keith. Allura decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to put Keith back into a pod, so instead they wrestled his deadweight onto a stretcher-bed that Lance didn’t even know they had.

In the meantime, Shiro returned from his auntie’s house. She was the only relative of his in the area, and he loved her very much, and she made the best cookies. He had bid her farewell, and returned back to the ship, only to find Keith unconscious, Lance nervously pacing, and Allura staring at her brother. His entire body screamed ‘RUNAWAY, RUNAWAY! RETREAT, RETREAT!” But he stayed and learned about the situation. Now, they were all just waiting for Billie and Pidge to return baring news. 

Relief spread like wildfire through Lance’s body when he heard both Billie and Pidge’s cry of happiness. They all heard thundering footsteps, somehow coming from the two tiniest people on Earth. Well, except for Pip, but that was painful for Lance to think about. The two girls tore into the room, both smiling. 

“We did it! We can find Marmora!” Pidge was so elated. She handed the coordination’s to Allura, whose eyes quickly flicked over the map of the Castle, as she sussed out where the ‘X’ was. 

“It’s in the astronomy room!” She cried happily, before she took off running in the direction of Lance’s favourite room. Everyone she left behind was silently chuckling to themselves. She returned shortly after with a small device in her hand. It had a big screen and three buttons on either side, all marked with Altean letters. She held one of these buttons down for a couple of seconds, and with a spike of relief, the screen lit up. When it did, all Lance could describe it as was an alien Marauders Map. There were tiny pinpricks that were all moving around, and all had an Altean symbol by them. It was all the people from the desert to the Galaxy Garrison. Once Allura had checked every possible person outside the Garrison (painstakingly slow, if you wanted Lance’s humble opinion,) she started on all the Cadets and etc that were inside. She yelped when she found the only half-Galra half-human on her radar. 

“What is it? Have you found him?!” Allura nodded her head slowly. “What’s wrong?” 

“He’s... he’s in the ‘Galaxy Garrison Laboratory.’ I-I think they might be experimenting on him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter! I’m sorry about the last chapter which kind of sucks buuuuuut hey anyway if anyone wants to find me on Tumblr it’s “i-regret-nothing-666” heh I’m not at all popular and there’s no fan art of this fic lol it sucks but if you wanna find me that’s my Tumblr lol X


	11. The Galaxy Garrison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a fight between Allura and Lancey Lance and seriously I don’t know where this is going.

“What? No, that can’t be right! The only lab the Galaxy Garrison ever had was the pop up one for Shiro.” Allura shook her head and showed him the screen. There, plain as day, ‘ _Galaxy Garrison Laboratory_ ’ was printed on the screen, showing the so-called lab to be under the main building where the super expensive flight simulator was. And sure enough, the was a spot somewhere in the middle of this so-called lab labelled ‘ _Half Galra, Half Human,_ ’ but Lance wasn’t having it. 

“How do we know that it’s him? He might have died with Talos! You just don’t know!” Allura was slowly getting angrier. 

“We found Talos! Keith saw one of his best friends dive in the way, pushing him to the side, to save his life, and by doing so, being crushed by millions of pounds of debris.

Keith had to watch as it ripped his abdominals open, and how the guy’s guts oozed out over the floor.

Then, when we returned with the two boy’s parents, he had to watch as Talos’ parents screamed until they couldn’t scream anymore, as they saw their son crushed and burnt by the explosion.

He had to watch as Marmora’s dad fell to his knees, too scared to touch the dry bloodstain on the floor which was all we believed to be left of his only son.

Those idiots were like brothers to me, and they meant everything to Keith. So if there is _any_ chance that Marmora is still alive, I swear to the Gods that I will do everything in my power to bring him home.”

Allura was bristling. Lance was shocked. Pidge looked upset. Billie looked uncomfortable. Hunk was crying. Keith slept on, blissfully unaware of the torment going on in the world of the awake. 

“I’m so sorry... I-I didn’t know, and I... There’s no excuse-” Allura cut him off. 

“No, Lance. _I’m_ sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that; you had a valid point and it was wrong of me to tell you all of that as a weapon. I just... I miss them. I miss them so much, and up until now there was no hope. And if it is a trap, then we will be ready to fight and... what is the term? Go down swinging, I believe.” Lance nodded. Hunk had stopped crying. Pidge was comforting him. Billie looked slightly more comfortable now. Keith still slept. “Now, will you help me break into this laboratory and steal back my brothers fiancé?” Lance laughed. 

“Of course,” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THIS PLEEEAAASEEE  
> (Btw sorry for the short chapter  
> ;-;)
> 
> I’m really struggling for inspiration for this story, so if anyone has ANY IDEAS that they would like to see included, then just lemme know in the comments! I used to have a rough general story plan but I’ve lost all inspiration... do I let Pip take over Earth? Do I let the squad get Marmora in time? Do I do nothing of those sorts??? SHOULD I JUST GIVE UP???!!! Just kidding but someone HELP MEH! This is your chance to let me know what you would like to happen! How you hope the story will fan out! Thank you so much to anyone that comments and helps! X


	12. Helpppp

Hey guys, I know I said this in the notes of the last chapter, but I wasn’t getting any responses soooo here goes;

 

I’m really struggling for inspiration for this story, so if anyone has ANY IDEAS that they would like to see included, then just lemme know in the comments! I used to have a rough general story plan but I’ve lost all inspiration... do I let Pip take over Earth? Do I let the squad get Marmora in time? Do I do nothing of those sorts??? SHOULD I JUST GIVE UP???!!! Just kidding but someone HELP MEH! This is your chance to let me know what you would like to happen! How you hope the story will fan out! Thank you so much to anyone that comments and helps! If no one leaves comments I don’t actually know if I can carry on with the story... ;-; I’ve had a pretty bad couple of weeks so I’d be really ecstatic if anyone could help me out here! X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much if you could leave me any feedback it would mean a lot. X


	13. Demon Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They steal Marmora back, but they find him with some strange words etched into his back.

The whole squad minus Keith and plus Billie somehow managed to fit onto Lotor's bike. They were all so heavy that the bike was almost trailing along the ground, but it was still their fastest way to travel. When they finally arrived at the Galaxy Garrison, the four ex-Cadets and Shiro took a step back and tried to take it all in. Thanks to Matt and Sam, there were now more defences, if the Galra ever decided to attack Earth, they would be thoroughly protected.

Lance didn't really like the idea of breaking in, but he knew it was inevitable if they were gonna get Marmora back. Pidge had 'borrowed' her dad's security card, so it was easy getting past the front door, but they would be easily spotted as soon as they got in. Yet again, they needed a distraction. For some reason, this all felt very familiar. Shiro called upon the Black Lion, and she landed somewhere off to the left of the Garrison. It took a couple of minutes, but soon people started flooding out.

As the group hid out of sight, they waited as people stopped coming, and Shiro made Black roar. Many people jumped back, but they started slowly advancing. Once they got too close, Black's particle barrier went up. The entire Garrison had been emptied out, and just for good measure, Pidge called upon Green. She landed next to Black, and people started flooding around her as well. The group ran as fast as they could into the main building.

They found the nearest elevator, and made shut the doors. They were on the ground floor already, and the Garrison had five floors. There was also a slot for a security card that none of the Cadets had ever used, and they didn't know where it went either. It was their best shot. Pidge quickly swiped her dad's card, and almost immediately the lift started moving. And to Allura's delight, it was moving down.

When the doors opened, Lance was almost blinded. Everything was so... white. White walls, white lights, white lab coats strewn across the place. There wasn't a lot in the lab, and it was quite a small room. There were a couple of desks complete with chairs, every desk was complete with a small microscope with glass slides and various Agar Plates. No, the thing that drew everyone's attention was the massive glass tube that sat directly in the middle of the room. Standing vertically, the tube was filled with a blue liquid. But that was not the only thing that was inside the tube. A young, handsome Half-Born Galra with a face that was all too familiar to Lance was suspended in the unknown liquid. Marmora was completely naked, his tail swaying gently behind him. His hair, that Lance had only ever seen in a bun, was spread out behind him in a long black mess, almost like a halo. His lips were slightly parted, showing his sharp, vampire-like fangs. His fluffy purple ears were barely visible because of his thick black mass of hair.

Seeing the short boy like this, even though Lance has never even spoken to him, made Lance sad and angry. Especially when he noticed all of the small bruises up and down Marmora’s arms, where needles had penetrated his fragile skin.

They all quickly advanced into the room, and Pidge made quick work of the tanks controls; the unknown blue liquid was drained almost immediately, and Marmora’s unconscious form crumpled. On a desk next to the tank, a black and purple suit was folded neatly, with a Luxite Blade sat on top. They grabbed the clothes, assuming they belonged to the alien, along with the boy’s knife. With a faint hiss, the tank opened and the group snatched Marmora quickly.

Allura dressed him in expert time; his suit wasn’t skin tight, but despite being unhealthily skinny, it showed off the boy’s natural curves. It was made up of four parts; a pair of dark pants that were almost like high-waisted jeans, which had purple patterns dancing across the fabric. They also had to be rolled up at the bottom because the boy was so short. There was a small hole in them where the small of the boy’s back was, the perfect size for a tufted tail.

Then, there was the really soft shirt. It had 3/4 length sleeves, and it was plain black. It was about four sizes too big for the tiny half-Galra.

There was also a zip up jacket, which was black, but had matching purple patterns on it, the sleeves were too long and they englufed his clawed hands. It also had a hood, which would be awesome if Marmora decided that he didn’t need to look straight in front of him anymore. Everything this poor kid owned was at least two sizes too big.

Last was the mask. It was weird, with two circle purple lights where his eyes would be, and a purple light up streak coming from each; almost like it was crying purple lights. They didn’t put this on, just needing to get Marmora out of there as fast as possible. 

The boy was still completely unconscious, his long hair falling in front of his face, shielding it from view. This also meant that the team literally needed to drag his ass out of there. Well, shit. Lance placed a hand on one of Marmora’s arms, and another on his back. Lance instantly regretted it, as the Half-Born, even though he was still unconscious, he hissed in pain. Lance re-adjusted his hand to around the boy’s waist. Shiro copied Lance’s move, and Hunk grabbed the short alien’s legs. 

They shuffled awkwardly in the elevator, and when the doors opened, they were faced with three confused Cadets. Well, this was awkward. They felt kind of bad, but they used Marmora as a battering ram, and charged at the Cadets as fast as their tiny steps could take them. When they finally made it outside, they packed everyone onto Lotor’s small bike. The Lions flew away, and the group now started up Lotor’s bike. It was even slower than before, but none of the Garrison payed them any attention as they were all too excited about what they had just witnessed. 

The ride back was loud and happy, but slightly uncomfortable for Lance and Shiro, who both had Marmora draped across their laps. Lance didn’t really mind, though. The little frown and occasional mutter and whimper told Lance that the boy had been through a lot.

Lance had learned at a young age how to plait hair, and he hadn’t done it for a while, so he’d forgotten how calming he used to find it. Apparently, the blue stuff Marmora was suspended in had some kind of all in one shampoo and conditioner in it because as the boy’s hair dried in the wind it became incredibly soft. Lance couldn’t help himself. His tanned fingers carded through the boy’s hair, before finding the top of his head where the choppy bangs met his actual hair. Lance found himself intertwining three locks of Marmora’s thick, dark hair.

Soon, the alien had two French braids which came to a stop at the bottom of Marmora’s shoulder blades. Damn, his hair was long. Lance wondered if Keith’s hair was long enough to plait, and even if the boy would let him plait it one day.

As the group carried Marmora inside, Lance’s eyes found their way onto the sleeping Prince. He had rolled over to face the wall on the other side, but Lance could tell that he was still asleep. 

As they undressed Marmora to get him into one of the pod-suits, Lance noticed something angry on the boy’s back. He gestured at Allura to stop for a second. 

“What’s that?” They turned him around, to find what looked like a recently administered brand. Spreading across the entire length of Marmora’s shoulders, what looked like symbols were burned into the pale purple skin. The marks were angry and red, the wound pushed so far into the boy’s back that it would definitely scar. 

‘დემონი მკვლელი’

“Allura, is this Altean or something?” It certainly didn’t _look_ Altean, but Lance could never be sure anymore. 

“No, this is not Altean. I have no idea what that means.” Pidge stepped up and took a closer look. 

“No, you guys. This is an Earth language. It’s Georgian. Me and my brother learnt it one night when we were bored.” 

“You know what? I’m not even surprised that you two learnt an entire language in one night _because you were bored_. Just tell us what it means.” Shiro said in an exasperated tone. Pidge took another step closer, fingers outlining the symbols decorating Marmora’s shoulder blades. 

“I don’t believe it.” Lance’s eyes scrunched. 

“Don’t believe what?” She turned to face the rest of the group. 

“It... it says ‘Demon killer’.”


	14. Eyes On The Prize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pip takes Keith, and Marmora wakes up.

Lance learned the hard way that you should never take your eyes off an elite Half-Born Galra soldier, especially if you think he's asleep. Because he is most definitely _not_ asleep.

They had started up timetable, there would always be two people in the infirmary room, waiting for Marmora and Keith to wake up. They had different shifts, and on that particular day, it had been him and Hunk stationed in the pod room.

"What did they _do_ to him?!" Lance muttered, staring up and the soft expression on Marmora's sleeping face. Hunk turned away from Keith to look at the newest addition to their team.

"I don't know... I'm just glad we got to him in time. Hopefully he can help us when he wakes up." Lance grunted slightly, and turned his back on the pod. He strode over to Keith and looked down at his friend. He was sickly pale still, and despite being asleep for three days, he had dark circles under his eyes, which were so dark in colour that you almost couldn't see Keith's Altean markings. He had a massive fever that they just couldn't seem to bring down. Occasionally, he would cry out or whimper. Lance had let his mind wander, wondering what Keith was dreaming about. Judging by the pained expression on his face, it wasn't anything good.

"Lance?!" Hunk whispered. Lance tore his gaze away from Keith, "Where... where's Marmora?" Lance's eyes snapped to the now empty pod.

"Uh..." The Luxite blade that had come with Marmora's clothes was missing from said pile of clothes, which had been folded and left at the foot of the pod. Lance was about to take a step towards the pod, when he felt something cold and sharp press against his neck from behind.

"Who the ever-loving quiznack are you, and where am I?" A smooth, familiar voice hissed, lips ghosting Lance's neck. Hunk stood up.

"Whoa, man. Cool your jets, buddy." He raised his hands, but the movement must have spooked Marmora, because the blade pushed further into Lance's throat. Hunk took a pace back.

"Hunk, get Allura. She can explain everything." Marmora started at that.

"Allura?" Hunk nodded, and ran towards the exit of the room. Lance didn't particularly want to be left alone in the room with an angry Marmora and a sleeping Keith, yet here he was.

The pressure of the knife had been relieved slightly. That was, until Marmora noticed Keith. Then the blade was dropped to the ground, and it was replaced by Marmora's quickly tightening tail. It started squeezing the life of him as Marmora ran to his fiancé's side.

"K-Keith?! What did you do to him?!" By this point, Lance was beyond choking. His head started to feel heavy as his face turned purple, and black spots danced across his vision. Lucky for him, Allura took that exact moment to show up, Hunk panting at her heels.

"Marmora! What do you think you're doing?!" She yelled, making Marmora flinch. His tail quickly unwound from Lance's neck as he muttered a quick apology. For some reason, Lance didn't think he meant it. He dropped to the floor, wheezing. Marmora took a step towards Allura, hair no longer in Lance's French braids, obscuring half of his face.

"Allura? Is-is that really you?" She took a step towards him too.

"It is. And that really is Keith. You are in the Castle of Lions... Daibazaal and Altea are no more. Me and Keith were saved by King Alfor and put into one of those cryogenic freezing and healing pods. We were... we were asleep for ten thousand years, before a group of humans unlocked a Lion which was hidden on Earth, and it brought them here. They woke us up, and we then located the remaining Lions, Keith remained Red's Paladin, but the rest of the Lions gained new Paladins." Marmora's eyes had blown up to the size of plates.

"Wait... you said _ten thousand years._ The last thing I remember was the explosion. How am I alive right now?" He cried. "Wait... did-did Talos make it out too?" Allura's face fell.

"No, he... he didn't make it. We didn't think that you had, either..." Tears welled up in Marmora's eyes, as he turned back to look at Keith.

"He asked me that day... he asked me how I thought he would feel if he was the last one left. Oh, Keith... I'm so sorry." He sobbed as he cradled Keith's face with one of his clawed hands. "But-but Talos... he can't be dead... Allura, please. Please tell me that he's not dead." Marmora sounded so desperate. Allura now had tears of her own pouring silently down her cheeks.

"Marmora... I know how... I'm sorry."

"Talos... dammit." Marmora angrily wiped his eyes. Lance had to wonder; what did Allura mean by that? Surely she didn't mean what he thought she meant?

"It changed him... and not for the better. You, Talos and me... we were all that Keith had. And after _it_ happened he got so quiet. You should've seen him when we figured out that you might be alive. I don't think I've seen him so happy since Red chose him as her pilot." She said with a fond look on her face. Marmora chuckled wetly.

"Ever the Voltron fan boy."

Now, Lance knew that he was being petty, but when Marmora caressed Keith's face, he felt a very familiar feeling spike up through his chest. He knew he shouldn't be jealous; even if it was an arranged marriage, Keith was engaged to this guy. And judging from what Allura said, Lance had a sneaking suspicion that Keith wasn't the one in their group that Marmora had feelings for. It wasn't Lance's place to say anything. But he couldn't help it.

"Soooo, Marmora. You said you didn't remember anything after the explosion?" To Lance's happiness, Marmora jumped and removed his hand from Keith's face.

"No... I-I must have blacked it out." Lance nodded at him.

"Well... Marmora, why don't you get dressed? Come and have lunch with us. I'm sure Keith will be fine for a little bit. There, we can tell you in more detail about what happened." Allura said hopefully.

"But-"

"Come on, Lance! It'll be good for all of us, you can get to know Marmora over Hunk's amazing cooking." Allura cut him off with a stern expression. Lance huffed, but agreed. He had a nasty feeling in his gut that something was about to go horribly wrong.

Lance knows now that he should've listened to that nasty feeling in his gut.

As Marmora padded alongside him, Lance was yet again lost in his own head. He wasn't even thinking about anything this time, but he was really kind of lethargic. He didn't even know why. He felt so relaxed. He knew something was really, _really_ wrong. He knew that when they had started walking to the kitchen, Allura had just told him about the demon that had been possessing Keith, and that it was probably still after him. She was just starting to tell him about the marks on his back, and Lance barely realised that she had trailed off mid-sentence. He could see out of the corner of his eye that both Allura and Hunk had slowed down, just as he had. His legs started to shake.

They didn't even make it to the kitchen. Lance, Hunk and Allura all dropped like flies. The only one who seemed unaffected was Marmora, who was looking at them all with panic in his eyes. Lance knew he needed to get up, but his body just would not respond. He could only utter one word.

"Keith." Understanding flooded Marmora's expression, and whilst grabbing his blade, he turned and flung himself down the corridor. Lance felt his heart sink when he heard Marmora curse loudly, and the fatigue melted away as fast as it had come on. The three others followed in Marmora's footsteps, and found him stood in the middle of the now empty room.

Lance's eyes flicked frantically to the bed Keith had been sleeping on a couple of minutes ago.

His heart sank through the floor.

Keith was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end of this chapter!! Please leave your thoughts in the comments, any and all feedback is very appreciated!!! X


End file.
